Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna state says tackling Fuel Subsidy and foreign exchange challenges to reposition Nigeria’s economy to the right trajectory may cost the next president of Nigeria a second-term bid.

According to The Punch reports, the Kaduna state governor said this during a panel discussion at the launch of the World Bank Nigeria Development Update and Country Economic Memorandum on Thursday, December 15, in Abuja.

El-Rufai said Nigeria needs such a leader that could rise beyond consideration of office and take painful but necessary decisions to ensure the country develops its economy.

The governor said the right policies and decisions will remove the word potential from Nigeria’s vocabulary and (Nigeria) will finally be the country everyone deserves to be.

“The next president of Nigeria must be willing to do just one term if necessary but reverse this trend,” Governor El-Rufai said while answering questions on the removal of fuel Subsidy.

He reiterated that the country's major problems are fuel subsidy and the exchange rate, adding that states and private sectors are bearing the brunt.

Meanwhile, the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP ), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar has described the controversial petrol subsidy as a “fraud” and pledged to scrap it.

Atiku said this on Tuesday at the Lagos Business School 2022 alumni day, while speaking on a range of economic issues in Nigeria, as well as his recovery plan for the country if elected president.

The PDP Flagbearer said the economic gains of the PDP between 1999 to 2007 included debt cancellation, privatisation, banking reforms, and an effective working partnership with the private sector.

The presidential hopeful described Nigeria’s debt situation as “a mess”, and promised fix it if elected.

“I was the chairman for the removal of the fuel subsidy committee and I recall how we removed phase 1 and phase 2 of the fuel subsidy. I will continue from where we stopped, remove fuel subsidy totally and channel the subsidy funds back into the economy. In other words, it’s just a fraud,” he said.

Atiku also said he would reform the oil and gas sector by ensuring that the right investors are engaged, such that Nigeria’s crude production increases while ensuring the privatisation of the three refineries in the country.

The former vice-president said, “with such policies in place, it will ultimately make Nigeria an oil production hub.”