THE Emir of Kano, Malam Muhammadu Sanusi II, on Thursday, said that stopping oil subsidy would go a long way in stopping corruption in the country.
Sanusi said this at one-day symposium on 2015 Budget of the Federal Government of Nigeria, organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) in Lagos.
The programme had the theme “Come Back Nigeria: The Nation’s Fiscal Challenges and Way Forward for the New Administration.”
He said that stopping subsidy was the first step to sanitising the country’s economy and ensuring structural reforms in all ramifications.
Sanusi criticised government’s resort to huge external borrowing to finance budget deficits even when there was minimum impact in the lives of Nigerians.
“One of the major challenges of the country over the years, in spite of its abundant resources, has been over-dependence on oil revenue and lack of structural reforms.
“This is caused by irregular budget cycle, fiscal indiscipline, huge cost of governance, poor budgeting ethics, implementation processes and weak structures and these have continued to contribute to poor economic performance.
“We spend so much and generate little revenues. We can begin to restructure our economy by fixing the revenue chain and blocking the leakages.
“And one way of doing that is by stopping subsidy because it gives room for corruption in our country,” he said.
Sanusi urged state governments to be creative and strengthen their internal revenue generation drives to meet the demands of their people.
He also urged Nigerians to pray and support the present administration as it made tough decisions for the survival of the nation’s economy.
“President Buhari is trying to cut down the number of ministries, parastatals and agencies, as well as reduce the cost of governance.
‘’It is not going to be easy, but we all need to make sacrifices because every positive change comes with a price,” he said.
