Tinubu’s government denies return of fuel subsidy, says there’s no budget allocation for it
The federal government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has denied returning fuel subsidy, saying there’s no budget allocation for it.
Minister of Finance Wale Edun made the clarification during a recent interview on AIT.
Edun said that fuel subsidy is not included in the 2024 national budget and cited economic progress as a reason to maintain current policies.
There is no fuel subsidy in the budget. We have signs that we are moving in the right direction, and we must maintain this trend,” he stated.
President Bola Tinubu during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, had declared that fuel subsidy “is gone.”
The development has led to the increase of petrol price 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.
According to him, the government should have implemented some measures before the subsidy removal.
He, 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.”
