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| Ben Murray-Bruce |
Federal government came under a heavy knock from the Chairman of
Silver Bird Group, Ben Bruce , when he lashed out on the government for
spending $8 billion on fuel importation annually.
Bruce was speaking in Abuja at the launching of a book
entitled “Why Run Before Learning To Walk”, written by Professor Turner
Isoun and Miriam Isoun .
He attributed the ongoing Academic Staff Union of University,
ASUU strike in the country to lack of fund, which he said was a direct
implication of the $8 billion spent by federal government annually on fuel
importation and called for total removal of oil subsidy to enable government
tackle other critical needs.
“The reason why Nigeria is broke is because we spend $8 billion
a year, to buy petrol that generates smoke. We need to address that
issue, a lot of our problems are self inflicting. The laziness of some people in government must come to an end. The expensive life
style, popping of Champagne must stop. We must go back to the era of
creativity.
“When people are poor, they struggle to become rich, when people
have nothing, they dream and think and use their imagination. Rich people are
not going to be next NollyWood stars. They have money and resources. The stars
of this country are going to come from Ajegunle, poor homes, single parent
homes, homes where they have no money, homes where they have one meal a day.
These are the kind of people we should have in government with imagination,” he
noted.
Bruce further lambasted the Academic Staff Union of
Universities, ASUU for complaining of poor funding, after opposing total
removal of fuel subsidy, saying, the union must be realistic in their demand
rather than playing to the gallery.
“When ASUU went on strike, they asked President, “why will you
spend $8 billion a year on fuel importation, when he could have spend it on
their welfare.” When subsidy was removed, they opposed government action for
removing subsidy and is now demanding for better pay, you can’t oppose
deregulation and on the other hand, demand for higher pay” he stated.
The Silver Bird boss, who expressed disappointment with the way
a politicians spend public fund, called for adoption of renewable energy and a
paradigm shift from being a lazy and consuming nation to a creative and
manufacturing nation.
He also lambasted some state commissioners for investing public
fund in the importation of tricycle, which he said is a 150 years old technology
that should not be allowed into Nigeria, instead , he advocated for adoption of
latest and more efficient technologies that would deliver better services to
the people.
“The problem of this country can be solved, but too much money
makes us lazy and incompetent. We must have renewable energy. We have the sun,
so we should use solar power. We have what most people want and therefore, we
should use electric cars, and we will not spend $8 billion to import fuel every
year.
“Right now, a lot of ministries, federal and states, have too
much money. President and governors should not give them any money. Too
much money makes them lazy and less money makes them use their imagination and
think.”
Vanguard
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