Amid soaring fuel costs and persistent electricity challenges affecting homes and businesses, the Chief Executive Officer of Common Sense Group, Dr Olumide Emmanuel, explains to DARE OLAWIN why Nigerians need to adopt solar energy, following the example of the Presidential Villa.
He also discusses the economy, President Bola Tinubu’s reforms, savings, investments, and wealth creation. Excerpts: The 2026 budget was based on an oil benchmark of $64.85 per barrel, but crude oil prices have now risen above $100 per barrel. How can Nigeria maximise this opportunity?
We have more money available as a result of the US-Iran war. The question then will be, how do we utilise the money? If you look at what has happened in the last few years, especially with the removal of the subsidy, we realise that a lot of the governors actually have more money available to them than they have ever had in the history of the states.
Some governors are getting up to four times what they used to get and some three times. So, there has been a lot of money available since the removal of the subsidy. But with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the windfall from Iran, more money is available to Nigeria.
But how do we spend the money? And I think that one of the things we need to begin to do, which I think the president also said, is we need to begin to hold the governors and the local government chairmen more accountable than just looking towards the president for everything.
Because now, the governors really have serious money with them. And despite the money that they have, a lot of them are not doing what they’re supposed to do. Should governors now be held responsible for several issues, including electricity supply? I remember in those days when there was a problem between the Olusegun Obasanjo administration and the Lagos State Government.
When they held on to Lagos allocations. I think when President Tinubu was a governor, he also wanted to do independent power. And the then president said, ‘No, that’s part of the exclusive list. You can’t do that’. But now all those things are gone. Every state can generate power now.
Why are states not generating power? Why are the states not doing that now that they have the money and they have the freedom? When it was not available and possible, they said that was the reason. Now that it’s possible, they are not doing it. The governments are still complaining of a cash crunch.
I don’t think our country has a revenue problem, even though people try to claim that. I don’t really think we have a revenue problem. I think we have a management and multiplication problem. Because when it comes to wealth creation, either for individuals, families, or organisations, you need to make the money first.
But if you make the money and you don’t manage it well, improper management of what you make will make you look like someone that is not making any money, which is part of our major issue. And then you need to multiply the money. So, our challenge is not really revenue, because we have so much money.