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Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, says President Bola Tinubu acted in the best interest of Nigerians by announcing the removal of the petrol subsidy on the day of his inauguration on May 29, 2023.

Onanuga, in a chat TheCable on Sunday, said Nigeria was in serious financial trouble which prompted the president to act quickly before things got worse.

The presidential aide was reacting to an interview granted by Babachir Lawal, a former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF), who said the announcement of subsidy removal by Tinubu a few minutes after his inauguration was hasty and driven by arrogance without due consultations with relevant stakeholders.

While justifying Tinubu’s action, Onanuga said there was no provision for subsidy in the budget left behind by former President Muhammadu Buhari.

He added that the country was in dire financial straits as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) could no longer import petrol due to N4 trillion debt owed by the federal government.

“Is Babachir still talking? Well, that is his opinion that the subsidy was hastily removed,” Onanuga said.

“The truth is, the subsidy was meant to be removed by the end of June 2023 according to what former president, Muhammadu Buhari left behind.

“President Tinubu only announced it on May 29 on the day he was sworn in. That is to show you that something is wrong somewhere and that the nation had a problem at that time.

“What I find out is that Nigerians easily forget things, we have a short memory about things. They should cast their minds back to what happened at that period. The NNPCL was saying the government was owing them N4tr of subsidy money. NNPCL was the only importer of fuel and towards the general elections, fuel scarcity was all over the country.

“Due to the scarcity, in some places, fuel was selling for about N700 – N800 before President Tinubu was sworn in. NNPCL didn’t have money to import fuel because they were being owed over N4tr by the federal government. People have easily forgotten about that.”

Onanuga said the country would have been in deeper problems if Tinubu did not act swiftly to address the situation.

“Tinubu knew the problem and that was why he made the announcement on the day of his inauguration. The language he used was ‘Subsidy is gone’ because even in the budget, there was no provision for it,” he said.

“I will challenge journalists to go and check that budget, when you look at that budget made by Buhari before leaving office, you will find out that aside no provision for subsidy, 97 percent of our income will be spent on servicing debts. If 97 percent of budget is used to service debts, what is left for Nigerians to spend?

“That 97 percent budgeted for debt servicing does not include the money the federal government owe the NNPCL. There were serious problems then and Tinubu just needed to do something quickly to arrest the deterioration.

“You can see what has happened in the last nine months with those measures he took. Yes, those measures are painful but they are needed to reset the economy and financials of this country. Otherwise, we would have ended into a much more disastrous situation.”

https://www.thecable.ng/onanuga-why-tinubu-announced-removal-of-petrol-subsidy-on-his-inauguration

And after removing subsidy Nigeria got into more financial troubles and took more loans, not only that he went back to start paying subsidy at almost 1 trillion monthly higher than what Buhari was paying... And yet some people want us to believe he is a master strategist...

When Tinubu was removing the fuel subsidy and floating the naira I told a lot of Tinubu supporters that Tinubu was putting the cart before the horse, now they know better...

Medicine after death.

He already used his mouth to tell us that "COURAGE" took control of him and that the famed "subsidy is over" speech was off script.

Why the damage control by the uncle Bayo?

We are all reaping the unintended consequences of that "COURAGE "


With the way Bayo is going, he may surpass "Lie " Mohammed with propaganda o!

He said Nigerians have short memory

Tufiakwa....! Repair one refinery before subsidy removal, he wants to claim hard man. Now Naira has no value again

PDP where voted out back then..


APC should be stoned out

Evil party call APC....

They lied to us that subsidy favours only the rich. Who is suffering now after subsidy removal? How many rich men have packed their cars because of subsidy removal?
E no go better for all of you.

How did he know the financial condition of Nigeria when he had barely sat on the seat?

good question

Whalis:
How did he know the financial condition of Nigeria when he had barely sat on the seat?

He removed fuel subsidy without necessary steps to cushion the effects because in his agbado brain 'shey na statistics we go chop''.

Tinubu showed strong leadership by making a tough decision to remove the petrol subsidy, which ultimately helped to improve the countrys financial situation. His actions were necessary and beneficial for Nigerians in the long run.

But the question is, why would Buhari make provision for subsidy for only the first 6 months of the year, knowing that his successor would be carrying such heavy load??

Chinkoalhaji34:
Tinubu showed strong leadership by making a tough decision to remove the petrol subsidy, which ultimately helped to improve the countrys financial situation. His actions were necessary and beneficial for Nigerians in the long run.

This is not even for us. It's for Nigerians of the future to actually have a future

It took 8 months later to arrange a delicious bunkum.

Cocaine sniffing dispensation

Are we not still paying subsidy now or not?


Where is the money coming from and who is funding it

If we are paying subsidy, why is fuel still expensive?

michlins:
Are we not still paying subsidy now or not?


Where is the money coming from and who is funding it

Rubbish! Trying to defend a defenceless action. Subsidy was not provided in the budget but bullet proof cars of 160m for national assembly members were provided. Indeed, you can't sneak into the house through the window and start cleaning the house. [color=#000099][/color]

nairavsdollars:
If we are paying subsidy, why is fuel still expensive?

if we're not paying subsidy, petrol should be above 1200 with the current exchange rates plus the cost of crude oil now

RenaissanceGuy:
But the question is, why would Buhari make provision for subsidy for only the first 6 months of the year, knowing that his successor would be carrying such heavy load??

You never heard of supplementary budget abi?

Why didn't Tinuba include the subsidy in the supplementary budget? Instead he smuggled in money for stealing into supplementary budget for 2023 after he took over.

Tinubu dey act for our interest, make una remember say Naija dey owe NNPC N4tr for subsidy and fuel scarcity bin dey before he enter. Tinubu save us from serious problem.

Nonsense talk . There are better alternative and soft template that could be used to navigate the difficult terrain and bloody shaped Nigerian economy. One of the leading light and proponent was Senator Jimoh Ibrahim who subscribed to us and u , Mr president to renegotiate the terms of payment with bretton wood institution for a Lag phase and debt Frozen system so as to guarantee your easy take off of your Govt. But you blow it with fuel bomb. Unfortunately, the only way out now is Reversal of this obnoxious policies. No way out Baba.

It was the condition "they" gave him in exchange for not exposing the skeletons in his cupboard. Now, the entire nation has to pay for that shìt! 🤐

So why remove subsidy first without rolling out palliatives to cushion the effect? So much for the Chicago first class accountant

Simply it was because the white powder has been sniffed.

E be like say na true true say Tinubu get sense, im do the right thing for Nigerians sake sake, nobody fit talk say im selfish or no sabi watin im dey do.

They kuku don't know what they are doing.

But there is money for corruption

See eh, una matter don tire person!