Professor of Banking and Finance at the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture Umudike, Sebastiane Uremadu has reacted strongly to a recent national prayer event led by National Security Adviser Malam Nuhu Ribadu and First Lady Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, as reported by VANGUARD.
Last week, they organized a week-long prayer gathering at the National Mosque in Abuja, with Muslim worshipers seeking divine help to address Nigeria’s economic challenges, Christian prayer groups also gathered at the National Ecumenical Centre, praying for solutions to the country’s hardships.
The government intended the prayer sessions as a way to seek spiritual intervention amid rising prices, insecurity, and low agricultural production. However, Professor Sebastiane Uremadu, a Banking and Finance expert, voiced his concerns and stressed that prayer without action is ineffective, urging the government to restore oil subsidies, according to Professor Uremadu, fuel subsidies impact all sectors, and reinstating them could help lower living costs across the country.
He pointed out that every major economy has some form of subsidy, especially for essential goods and added that insecurity, high taxes, and the lack of foreign exchange stability are pressing issues that require policy solutions, not just prayers.
“Prayer is good but Nigerians have prayed enough. Faith without work is dead. We have prayed enough. Now it’s for action. I’m a Professor of Banking and Finance. There’s a serious need to restore oil subsidies. In every country, there is a subsidy. No economy operates without subsidy. In our own clan, oil subsidy is the catch-all variable that touches everything.”
“If you restore the fuel subsidy today every other cost will come down. There’s insecurity everywhere and people are afraid to move about. For our economy to rebound, there is a need to remove multiple taxation. Multiple taxation is bad. You are taxing people to death; you are taxing companies to death. People are dying everyday. You see walking corpses on the street. People are starving now. Nigeria has been praying. I’m a man of God and we have been praying. Prayers alone cannot stop our problem as a country, we must apply the right policies. Work on insecurity, restore oil subsidies and fix forex then the economy will pick up,” he said.
SOURCE: YuAdam