Has Tinubu re-introduced fuel subsidy? Here’s what we know
A debate on whether the subsidy was truly removed or if it is propaganda of the Tinubu administration has ensued after documents showed ₦5.4 trillion proposed subsidy payment surfaced.
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, who spoke on the issue, expressed his disappointment, stating, “Nigeria is not a working nation.” Recall that on the one-year anniversary of the Tinubu administration, he requested that the government “come clean on the actual position of the subsidy policy.”
Atiku stated, “Like millions of Nigerians, I was shocked to learn through media reports that the government is still supporting downstream consumption.
“Now we know that expenditure on fuel subsidy may reach ₦5.4 trillion in 2024, compared to the ₦3.6 trillion spent in 2023, the same year that Tinubu claimed to have abolished the fuel subsidy.
“I wish to restate that Nigeria is not working, and what we have had in a little over a year is a cocktail of trial-and-error economic policies. Paying subsidies and lying about it is nothing to brag about. Nigerians deserve better than this deception.”
Also joining the conversation, @PIDOMNIGERIA on X stated, “Tinubu is paying 100% subsidy for fuel, yet fuel is still selling between 850/900 naira. Who is taking the balance? Who is subsidizing who?” He further stated, “Pidom is vindicated finally. I saw the classified document where Tinubu personally approved the full payment of fuel subsidy.”
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Has Tinubu re-introduced fuel subsidy? Here’s what we know
Tinubu has not reintroduced the subsidy.
In a press statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, the news of the government paying for the subsidy despite its stance against it, as declared by President Tinubu on 29th May 2023, was debunked.
In the statement, he said, “The attention of the Presidency has been drawn to two fiscal policy documents in circulation that are being given wide coverage by the mainstream media and social media platforms.
“Emanating from the two documents have been reports second-guessing the government’s policy on customs tariffs, fuel subsidy, and other economic matters.”
The Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Wale Edun, lending his voice to the issue, stated, “The government wants to restate that its position on the fuel subsidy has not changed from what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared on 29 May 2023. The fuel subsidy regime has ended. There is no ₦5.4 trillion being provisioned for it in 2024, as being widely speculated and discussed.”
