Dele Alake, the spokesman forthe All Progressives Congress Presidential Council, that it tookcourage for PresidentBola Ahmed Tinubu to remove the fuel subsidy, what his predecessors failed to do for pecuniary gains.
Alake, Nigeria’s Minister of Power said past leaders inthe country knew that the right thing to do concerning the subsidy on petroleum products but chose to be politically correct in other not to jeopardise their quest to stay put in power.
Tinubu, he said, risked all by ending the fuel subsidy regime not caring howit will affect his political future, saying it takes a leader who loves his country to take the courage to end subsidy which benefits many power people in the country.
The minister, who spokewith select jorunalsist on Wedenesday said the president should be applauded instead of being vilified,saying past leaders inthe country tookthe easy route because they didn’t want to lost face among the public.
He stressed that the nation’s economy was already inthe woods when Tinubu came to office, but that past leaders lacked the ”courage to take those decisions” that could have helped the country to turn the corner.
“And there is no shortcut. They say, our elders say, when you are in a hole, what do you do? You stop digging. Because the more you dig, the deeper you sink.
“But because those previous governments lacked that courage to stop digging, for short-term political expedience, they were afraid of elections; they were afraid of bringing them back to office and all that. So they shifted those decisions- the hard decisions they ought to have taken.
“I recall, and most of you will be aware, many years ago there was this issue of removal of subsidies that dominated the space in Nigeria, and there were protests: subsidies should not be removed; they should be removed. The government at that time knew they were removing them; they should be removed. But the fact of the matter was, it went back on the process of removing them.
“When there were protests, it backtracked because there was an election coming. And so people swallowed the bitter pill. But somebody came and decided to swallow the bitter pill, to take the bullets on behalf of Nigerians.
“I think it shows in all senses of fairness and objectivity. If a man, who is a politician himself, who should be very sensitive to elections, his government back to office, decided to take the bullets, regardless of the consequences on his own political career, on behalf of the nation, because the nation had to be reset.
“I think it’s just very, very important for us to appreciate that. And that is the kind of person that Nigeria needs, for consistency. Now, yes, those hard decisions have been taken.”
The minister noted that beneficiaries of the fuel subsidy were the cartels, the oil cartels, who used smuggling tomanipulate price in other to make huge profit at the expense ofNigerians..
“And they come back to Nigeria to oppress the rest of us. Those people who are benefiting from it, when the fuel subsidy was removed, did you think that they would fold their arms and be looking? No! They will fight back. They will push back,” he said.
He added, “And they are fighting back, and they are pushing back. And the media, unwittingly, has been helping them to amplify their own selfish pushbacks against the long-term progress of the society. Now, at that time when there was a fuel subsidy, you recall how many states couldn’t pay salaries.
“In fact, the federal government itself was borrowing to pay salaries. And at some point, I recall, more than 18 states, if not more, I’m sure more, could not meet up with wages. Some who were trying were paying half of the salary, or the quota, or spreading the salaries, and stuff like that.“
President Tinubu, had,during his inaugural on May 29, 2023, announced his governmentdecision to end subsidy on petrol, saying it was no longer sustainable.
The decision, according to not a few Nigerians has brought untold hardship to the masses.
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