The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has said the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will decide the date the fuel subsidy will be removed.

Though the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) said the subsidy policy would end by June when the budget for the initiative would lapse, the Chief Spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress PCC, Festus Keyamo, on Sunday, noted that the next government would determine the terminal date for the subsidy regime.

There has been apprehension over the planned removal of subsidy with marketers and other petroleum stakeholders projecting that the development may push fuel prices to N750 per litre.

Despite the anxiety over the issue, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria last week called for subsidy removal.


PENGASSAN’s President, Festus Osifo, who said this at the National Executive Council meeting of the association in Abuja, implored the government to ensure the speedy rehabilitation of Nigeria’s refineries, stressing that this would help ease the hardship that could arise from the halt of fuel subsidy.

But the Nigeria Labour Congress has vowed to resist the plan, insisting that the refineries must be functional before the subsidy can be tampered with.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited recently said the country was spending over N400bn monthly on petroleum subsidy which it argued is largely unsustainable.

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has said the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will decide the date the fuel subsidy will be removed.

Though the regime of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) said the subsidy policy would end by June when the budget for the initiative would lapse, the Chief Spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress PCC, Festus Keyamo, on Sunday, noted that the next government would determine the terminal date for the subsidy regime.

There has been apprehension over the planned removal of subsidy with marketers and other petroleum stakeholders projecting that the development may push fuel prices to N750 per litre.

Despite the anxiety over the issue, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria last week called for subsidy removal.


PENGASSAN’s President, Festus Osifo, who said this at the National Executive Council meeting of the association in Abuja, implored the government to ensure the speedy rehabilitation of Nigeria’s refineries, stressing that this would help ease the hardship that could arise from the halt of fuel subsidy.

But the Nigeria Labour Congress has vowed to resist the plan, insisting that the refineries must be functional before the subsidy can be tampered with.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited recently said the country was spending over N400bn monthly on petroleum subsidy which it argued is largely unsustainable.

He stated, “I can assure you that the president-elect being who he is will not do that without corresponding palliative (measures) to the masses. I can tell you that confidently.”

In the same vein, Keyamo also cautioned the NLC not to incite the masses against the decision, noting that the Labour Party presidential standard bearer, Peter Obi, similarly endorsed the subsidy removal during the build-up to the February 25 polls.

Recall that Obi promised to phase out fuel subsidy completely if elected as the president.

Reacting to the NLC and the Trade Union Congress’ opposition to the planned subsidy removal, Keyamo dismissed their stance, insisting that NLC had no moral right to ask the Federal Government to retain fuel subsidy when it openly endorsed a presidential candidate that called for its removal.

“This was what I have been saying since last year. All of you in the media did not give it any attention. I knew what was coming. That was why I kept asking why the NLC was supporting Peter Obi and his Labour Party.

“Organised labour has no moral right to turn around this time to say they want to uphold fuel subsidy when removal of fuel subsidy was one of the cardinal campaign points of Peter Obi. Yet, the NLC threw their weight behind him. What moral justification do they have to want to uphold it now? At the end of the day, it is political. So they should tell the nation why they did that. Now is the time for judgment,” he said.

While the Peoples Democratic Party expressed its support for the removal of fuel subsidy to free funds for the development of critical infrastructure, it doubted the readiness of the Tinubu government to remove it.

The Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ibrahim Abdullahi said, “How can APC say they will remove fuel subsidy? They can’t do it. They criticized the PDP-led government for failing to remove subsidies. Now, they have been in government for eight years but they have done nothing.

‘’So, Nigerians should not believe them when they talk about subsidy removal because it is an area they know nothing about. As a matter of fact, they have been embroiled in subsidy fraud.”

Also speaking, the National Publicity Secretary of the New Nigeria People’s Party, Major Agbo said the party would not support subsidy removal as “that will bring a lot of hardship on Nigerians.”

According to him, “The idea of subsidy in the first place is to protect poor citizens and give them a sense of belonging. If the subsidy is removed, it means vulnerable citizens would suffer more and NNPP will never endorse the sufferings of Nigerians.”

He further took a swipe at the ruling party for what he called its hypocritical stand on subsidy, saying, “While they were preparing to come to power eight years ago, they said subsidy was a fraud. So, what do they now want to remove?’’

Meanwhile, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, have supported the call by the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria that the fuel subsidy be stopped in June this year.

But the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association kicked against the call for the halt in subsidy, insisting that the right infrastructure should be put in place before stopping fuel subsidy.

Speaking with The PUNCH, the President of NACCIMA, John Udeagbala, said the association was in full support of fuel subsidy removal as it had become a tool for unscrupulous politicians to steal public funds.

He said, “We want the fuel subsidy to be removed. It is not a subsidy that is the problem, rather it is the fraud in the exercise. As long as we keep the subsidy, we are multiplying the fraud.

“We are not developing. No capital projects. Just read the budget. At the end of the day the economy is slowing and then 40 per cent of the money is stolen in the name of subsidy. NACCIMA is in support of the removal. We have said it (in the past).”

On his part, the Deputy President of Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Gabriel Idahosa, said that the shocks to be experienced in the immediate aftermath of fuel subsidy removal would be a necessary evil Nigerians would have to live with for things to get better.

He said the expected rise in the cost of living was the argument that had been made each time Nigeria tried to remove the fuel subsidy.

Idahosa said the call for the retention of the subsidy was being sponsored by the beneficiaries of the illicit wealth garnered through the instrumentality of the subsidy regime.

The whether or whether not game will start as soon as he is finally enthroned on 29/05..they will begin with propaganda and end with propaganda! For subsidy removal to have head, evil people benefitting from it can't be part of its redemption

Subsidy removal good or bad for the economy??

Someone that would be in jail, tell me how is he going to take such decision from jail

GOOD, SMART MOVE BY THE FG

SHAME ON THE ING PLANNERS

Kk

His supporters will get a discount

He won't remove it.

Typical politicians.