Femi Adesina, media aide to President Muhammadu Buhari has explained why the president failed to remove petrol subsidy.
Adesina during an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday said the government needs to carefully consider its options before arriving at a decision.
Recall that former President Goodluck Jonathan had in January 2012 faced stiff opposition when he attempted to remove subsidy on petrol. Consequently, he reversed the decision.
However, Buhari had in 2015 stated that there was no justifiable reason to end the fuel subsidy regime. He said that its removal would compound the economic woes of the people.
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But the federal government recently disclosed that it will cease the payment of fuel subsidy in June 2023.
According to Adesina, the subsidy wasn’t removed due to “economic and social factors”.
He said, “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.
“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.
“It’s a phase the country must pass through and has passed through and that phase is coming to an end.”
Source: Cable