Femi Adesina, President Muhammadu Buhari’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, has explained why the President was unable to remove the fuel subsidy until now, despite describing it as a fraud.
“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 Channels Television’s show.
During his campaign for the 2015 presidential election, Buhari questioned the rationale for retaining fuel subsidies, calling them a fraud.
However, approximately eight years later, the Buhari administration recently announced that subsidy removal will take effect in June 2023, after he has completed his two terms in office.
Adesina attributed his principal’s inability to remove the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as gasoline, to 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 stated that the gasoline subsidy had been extended for a longer period of time than was necessary.
Adesina went on to say that almost every Nigerian has now realized that it must be stopped.
BizWatch Nigeria reported that the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed revealed on Wednesday during a public presentation and breakdown of the 2023 Appropriation Act in Abuja that fuel subsidy payments will cease by the end of June 2023.
She stated that the government set aside ₦3.36 trillion naira in the fiscal year 2023 for fuel subsidy payments for the first six months of 2023.
This, she claims, is in line with the 18-month extension announced in early 2022.
