The removal of fuel subsidy is one of the sacrifices Nigerians must make for the country to move forward, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has said.
The president made the admonition on Monday during his speech to mark the annulment of the June 12, 1993, presidential election.
President Tinubu on his inauguration as President and Commander-in-chief on May 29, declared that his government has ended the subsidy regime that cost the country a whopping $10 billion last year alone.
“Subsidy is gone”, the president said, noting that there is no provision for it in the 2023 Budget, in reference to his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to stop paying petroleum marketers subsidy by the end of June this year.
The president’s decision to end subsidy was received with mixed feelings by Nigerians, some said such will bring more hardship to the people while others welcome it as the right way to go in order to save funds for critical infrastructure.
Speaking today in a national broadcast, President Tinubu said he will ensure that the sacrifice Nigerians have to pay over the removal of subsidy, will not be in vain.
He said whatever is saved from the bogus subsidy will be used to provide critical infrastructure such as good roads, better medical care, quality and qualitative education, and other things to make the life of Nigerians better.
“I have asked you, my compatriots, to pay a little sacrifice” for the government to be able to turn the country around, the president said.
Meanwhile, some Nigerians who reacted to the president’s speech said government officials must also be ready to make sacrifices like other Nigerians, adding that past governments lived ostentatious lifestyles at the expense of Nigerians.
While speaking on the removal of fuel subsidy last week, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, and a rights activist, noted that a large part of the nation’s resources is used to subsidise those in power while other Nigerians are made to pay for the bogus lifestyles of government officials.
