By Awyetu Asabe Hope
Financial experts have urged the Federal Government to channel proceeds from excess crude oil sales into targeted interventions to cushion the economic hardship facing Nigerians.
A chartered accountant and businessman, Chief Abiola Ali, made the call in an interview on Monday in Ibadan, stressing that urgent measures were needed to address rising living costs.
According to him, the current economic situation requires immediate government intervention, including subsidising food items and providing transport support for workers.
“The government can also find a way to give certain allowances to workers to compensate for the increase in transportation,” Ali said.
He added that social intervention programmes should be extended beyond civil servants to reach vulnerable Nigerians.
“Nigerians are not just complaining; things are deteriorating by the day,” he said, urging the government to deploy effective palliatives to ease the burden on citizens.
Similarly, an industrialist, Chief Kola Akosile, called for a significant portion of excess crude revenue to be directed towards economic relief measures.
Akosile, a national officer of the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce Industry Mining and Agriculture, suggested that up to 80 per cent of the gains be used to support manufacturers and investors.
He noted that such support would help reduce production costs and ultimately lower prices of goods in the market.
“The hardship is too much, especially on the poor people, so it is important for the government to pump the excess gains into various palliative measures,” he said.
Akosile also advocated small business grants and improved transportation systems as strategies to reduce the high cost of living.
Meanwhile, the President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, recently urged the government to allocate 60 per cent of crude oil revenue gains to offset fuel landing costs.
He said the move would help mitigate the impact of rising fuel prices on Nigerians.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Heineken Lokpobiri, had earlier highlighted the importance of effective management of oil revenues amid ongoing economic challenges.
Experts say decisive investment of excess crude earnings into social and economic support programmes could play a critical role in stabilising livelihoods and restoring public confidence.
