The Presidency has disclosed why President Muhammadu Buhari could not remove fuel subsidy despite his condemnation of the scheme.
It said Buhari could not remove fuel subsidy because of certain stakeholders and the consequences such move will have on the people.
The Special Adviser to the president on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, made the disclosure on Wednesday when during a monitored programme on Channels Television.
“Each time there is an effort to fight the fraud in the subsidy regime, you have to contend with labour, you have to contend with the people. The government needed to weigh its options because of the social consequences in it,” Adesina said.
During his campaigning ahead of the 2015 presidential election, Buhari had questioned the justification behind retaining fuel subsidy and described it as a fraud.
However, about eight years after, the Buhari administration announced recently that subsidy removal will come into effect in June 2023 after he must have completed his two terms in office.
Adesina blamed his principal’s inability to remove subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit also known as petrol on economic and social factors.
“In the beginning, his (Buhari’s) position was: what was subsidy really? But over the years it became evident that the country was bleeding, the economy was bleeding, there was a lot of hemorrhage which needed to be stopped and the time came and that time is now,” Adesina said.
The presidential aide also said that petrol subsidy had stayed longer than required. He added that almost every Nigerian has now come to the realisation that it must come to a stop.
