APC/PDP Bicker Over Alleged Removal of Petrol Subsidy

The ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, has urged Nigerians to discard claim that fuel subsidy has been reintroduced.

Phrank Shaibu, a spokesman to the PDP presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, last week, claimed that the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has started paying subsidy to marketers on the petrol consumption in the country.

The president had during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, said fuel ‘subsidy is gone’, thus putting an end to the humungous amount paid as subsidy on petrol to marketers.

Reacting, Felix Morka, APC spokesman said in a statement on Monday that the claim is fake news peddled by the opposition party, saying there is no evidence to show that the federal government has reintroduce the regime of fuel subsidy.

The APC spokesman said the PDP is yet to recover from losing the presidential election and has resolved to mislead Nigerians on the subsidy matter.

Part of the statement reads: “Shaibu’s only ‘evidence’ for such an arrant conclusion is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed more media aides than economic and security advisers, conveniently glossing over the fact that Mr. President was swift in rejigging the security architecture and repositioning the Armed Forces for optimal performance in defence of lives and property.

“Certainly, he does not understand the issues and the interplay of statecraft and economic management initiatives by President Tinubu to remove age-old distortions and contradictions, accelerate and solidify all round recovery and prosperity for our country.

“That Shaibu described as ‘lies’, the administration’s courageous decisions to remove fuel subsidy, harmonize the foreign exchange regimes and sign into law the Students’ Loan Act, only buttresses his poor understanding of economic development and governance. That the fine details of these visionary and people-centred policies are still being worked out and have yet to run their due course cannot and do not negate their valid objectives and potential transformative impact. The President has dutifully appointed experienced and highly skilled professionals to key institutions of the economy, including the Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, and Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS and created the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in a patriotic zeal to reposition and grow the economy.

“Lifting the Visa ban on Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates UAE authorities should ordinarily make any well-meaning Nigerian happy. Diplomatic rapprochement between Nigeria and UAE authorities is ongoing and details of outcomes will soon be made public.

“The matter of the proposed meeting with United States of America President Joe Biden does not even require elaboration. Having met with President Tinubu on the sidelines of the G-20 Nations summit in India, another meeting with President Biden during the United Nation’s General Assembly UNGA had become unnecessary and was not even on President Tinubu’s schedule, contrary to preliminary indications on the matter.

Due to the falling value of the naira and the rise in the price of crude oil in the international market, petrol dealers had last week said the federal government may spend about N1.68tn as subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, from September to December this year.