Tinubu to Nigerians: We won’t return to subsidy regime
He said: “I came and I removed subsidy the first day. No, Nigeria will go bankrupt. Yes, nothing... The post Tinubu to Nigerians: We won’t return to subsidy regime appeared first on Tribune Online.
President Bola Tinubu's removal of the petrol subsidy, announced on his inauguration day in May 2023, ended a decades-old policy under which the federal government absorbed part of the cost of imported petrol to keep pump prices artificially low. Successive administrations had maintained the subsidy despite its strain on public finances, with officials citing the cost of fuel smuggling, under-recovery by the NNPC, and ballooning government expenditure as reasons for scrapping it. The policy shift triggered a sharp spike in transport and food costs, deepening the cost-of-living crisis and making subsidy removal one of the most contentious issues of Tinubu's presidency.
The President's latest remarks, invoking the biblical exodus metaphor of not returning to "Egypt," are a direct response to mounting public frustration and opposition pressure to reconsider the policy. Atiku Abubakar's sharp rebuttal signals that subsidy removal remains a live political flashpoint ahead of future electoral contests, with critics arguing the policy has worsened hardship for ordinary Nigerians while the government insists it was a necessary step to avert fiscal collapse. The coverage across outlets is largely consistent on Tinubu's comments, though none detail what palliative measures or fiscal data he cited to back his claim that a reversal would bankrupt the country.