The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has announced that the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will determine the date for the removal of the fuel subsidies in Nigeria.
This was disclosed by Festus Keyamo, the Chief Spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress PCC.
This development comes amidst concerns by petroleum stakeholders that the move may lead to a significant increase in fuel prices.
Despite the plan to remove the subsidy, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) has called for its removal, urging the government to rehabilitate Nigeria’s refineries to ease the hardship that could arise from the subsidy’s halt.
However, the Nigeria Labour Congress has vowed to resist the plan, insisting that the refineries must be functional before the subsidy can be tampered with.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited recently revealed that the country spends over N400bn monthly on petroleum subsidies, which is largely unsustainable.
Although President, Muhammadu Buhari’s regime promised to end the subsidy policy by June, when the budget for the initiative would lapse, it appears that the next government led by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will determine the terminal date for the subsidy regime.
The proposed removal of the subsidy has been met with apprehension by marketers and other petroleum stakeholders, who predict that the development may push fuel prices to N750 per liter.
Despite these concerns, the incoming government will make the final decision on the date for the removal of the subsidy.
Speaking To newsmen Keyamo stated that he did not doubt that the Tinubu presidency would terminate subsidy payments in line with the plan of the Buhari regime.
He, however, cautioned that since government and not all policy, was a continuum, should be left alone to decide on the date of his choice to execute it.
The PCC spokesman also explained that June 2023 was chosen by the FG to officially strike out fuel subsidies because the budget did not capture it beyond that date.
He stated, “It is one of the policies by which we campaigned. I cannot sit here and tell you when exactly it will be done. But the removal of subsidies is something that the president-elect pledged to do. Not only him. Virtually all the leading presidential candidates took the same position.
“Why the FG targeted June (to end subsidy) was that the budget only provided for subsidy up to June. That was the reason. But the new government will decide when it wants to. Of course, you know that when a new government takes over, the country is at its beck and call. Yes, I agree that government is a continuum. But all policies are not a continuum.”
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