Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has revealed that the fuel subsidy, which the federal government removed in 2023, has been reintroduced due to inflation.
Naturenex reported that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, had declared that fuel subsidy “is gone.”
This development has led to a hike in the pump price of petrol from about N200 to over N600 per litre.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Obasanjo faulted the manner in which the subsidy was removed by the government, Daily Trust reported.
According to the former president, the government should have implemented some measures before the subsidy removal.
Obasanjo, however, explained that the subsidy has “come back” due to the inflation rate.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. Not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back,” Obasanjo said.
He also highlighted the need for investor confidence in Nigeria, stating, “You have to go from a transactional economy to a transformational economy.”
Obasanjo spoke as Tinubu insists no going back on subsidy removal
Meanwhile, Obasanjo statement came on the heels of the nationwide protests.
Naturenexreported that some of the demands of the ongoing hardship protest is the reinstatement of the fuel subsidy regime.
But Tinubu, in his Sunday broadcast, ruled out possibility of returning fuel subsidy.
He described the decision to remove the fuel subsidy as painful but necessary, while arguing that it had been a “noose around the economic jugular of our nation” and had hindered economic development and progress.
