Fuel subsidy is back, Tinubu’s administration paying more than previous governments – El-Rufai

Immediate past Governor of Kaduna State (2015 to 2023), Nasir El-Rufai has stated that the President Bola Tinubu-led Federal Government is now spending more on fuel subsidies than previously.

He made these comments to reporters after presenting the main paper at a capacity-building workshop aimed at improving the skills of government officials in policy implementation and productive human resource management for political appointees, which took place in Maiduguri on Monday.

He said, “The federal government is now subsidizing fuel; many people don’t know this.”

Applauding the policy, El-Rufai added, “It is a right policy. I have always supported the withdrawal of oil subsidy; but in the course of implementing the policy, the government realised that subsidy has to be back; right now, government is a lot of money for subsidy, even more than before.
“You start implementing a policy because you are absolutely sure it is the right policy, but in the course of implementation, you come across bottlenecks, and you modify.

“The keyword in leadership, in my view, is pragmatism. You should be pragmatic. So when you make a policy, you start implementing it, and it doesn’t seem to work well. You should have the humility to stand back and say this is not working, and you modify it.”

Taking a swipe at the critics of Tinubu’s administration over leadership deficit, El-Rufai said:

“It is too early to judge the present administration.

“It (the Tinubu administration) has been there just for nine months now,” he observed, adding, “Leadership is a work in progress.”

Stressing further, the former Kaduna governor maintained, “Leadership is a continuous thing, and you cannot judge someone who has four years in just nine months.”

He, however, charged Nigerians to pray for their leaders for God’s guidance.

Tinubu, on inauguration day, declared that the subsidy removal on fuel in the country was gone.