Femi Adeshina, The Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Presidential Muhammadu Buhari has given reasons why fuel subsidy cant be removed.
Recall that the Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning Dr Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed has disclosed that the fuel subsidy will be removed this year in June.
Speaking Channels Television’s Politics Today, Mr. Adeshina said each time there is an effort to fight the fraud in the subsidy regime, the FG has to contend with Labour and the people.
“The government needed to weigh its options because of the social consequences in it,” he said.
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, 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.
According to him the gasoline subsidy had been extended for a longer period of time than was necessary. He went on to say that almost every Nigerian has now realised that it must be stopped at a time.