Without deregulation, Nigeria may become like Zimbabwe – Sagay

Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption on Monday said there is no alternative to the deregulation policy of the federal government is Nigeria is to survive and be economically viable.
Sagay, who described the recent fuel price increase as a bitter pill, said Nigeria may degenerate to the level of Zimbabwe if the government continues to foot- drag on the policy.
According to him “I don’t think we have a choice if Nigeria is to survive. If we are to survive as a country and we want to become economically viable again, this is a bitter pill we have to swallow. If we don’t do it now, our economy will collapse”.
 We will degenerate to the level of Greece. Even Greece is even better. We will degenerate to the level of Zimbabwe. So, this is a measure to save this country from total economic collapse. This is the only thing we can do. It is a very bitter pill but we have to swallow that pill in order to graduate to a brighter, greater and happier future”.
“I don’t expect this level of increase to continue for long. As soon as things settle down and there is competition among importers of fuel, and our local refineries are producing more, the prices will start coming down gradually. So, we should tighten our belt and face it. After a few months, we will begin to see the result and everybody will be grateful to the government for taking this bold step” he said.