President Bola Tinubu’s pronouncement that fuel ‘subsidy is gone’ triggered a rush for premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, at filling stations in many parts of Nigeria.
Development Diaries reports that Tinubu, in his inaugural speech as Nigeria’s president, affirmed that his administration would not continue to pay subsidy on petroleum products.
The president said since there was no provision for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act from June, it stands removed.
The 16th Nigerian leader and the country’s seventh president also said that given the high opportunity cost, the federal government was suffering to fund subsidies.
He explained, ‘The fuel subsidy is gone’!
‘Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.
‘We commend the decision of the outgoing administration in phasing out the petrol subsidy regime which has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor’.
Following Tinubu’s pronouncement, motorists have been struggling to get their tanks filled, over fear that once subsidy ends, the cost of petrol could rise above N500/litre.
The declaration has definitely created a spread of uncertainty amongst Nigerians and this has led to panic buying.
Reacting to this development, Director at BudgIT, Oluseun Onigbinde, in a Twitter post, said, ‘Subsidy Removal must happen but it requires tact. You have to figure out how to handle food inflation, provide alternative means of transport and ramp up social investment under a well-structured social investment programme.
‘Anything else is a pathway to social disorder’.
For its part, the Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED) condemned Tinubu’s affirmation of the removal of petrol subsidy.
‘There seems to be no strategy, and as a result, citizens are now at the whims of exploiters who will undoubtedly prey on them’, the Executive Director of CHRICED, Ibrahim Zikirullahi, said in a statement.
The organisation added, ‘In the face of these realities, and for the fact that Tinubu’s approach has proved to be an extension of what was done in the last government, CHRICED calls on the organised labour and all well-meaning civil society organisations to brace up for the struggles ahead.
‘As things stand, the removal of subsidy without any attempt to engage critical stakeholders is an indication that the Tinubu regime is just a continuation of the inhumane policies of General Buhari’.
Former Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, had in April 2023 said that the subsidy removal committee would be expanded to include a team from the new administration.
Development Diaries believes that President Tinubu ought to have laced his affirmation of subsidy removal with plans for handling the impact of the removal.
We call on the president to urgently release a statement clarifying his announcement on the planned subsidy removal.
We also call on the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to shut down rogue filling stations found to be selling PMS above the official pump price.
Furthermore, we call on the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) to direct all its members to desist from taking advantage of the panic buying as there is no justification yet for the outrageous price increase.
Photo source: Rama