Obasanjo reveals reintroduction of subsidy amidst inflation

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has announced the reintroduction of the fuel subsidy, a measure previously eliminated by the Federal Government in 2023, citing rising inflation as a critical factor.  

This announcement comes after President Bola Tinubu declared during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, that fuel subsidy “is gone,” leading to a dramatic spike in petrol prices, which surged from approximately N200 to over N600 per litre.

In a recent interview with the Financial Times, Obasanjo critiqued the government’s approach to phasing out the subsidy, suggesting that adequate measures should have been put in place beforehand to mitigate the impact on citizens.

READ ALSO: Fuel Subsidy Removal: Nigerians pain temporary – FGN

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.”

It could be recalled that some of the demands of the ongoing nationwide protest is reinstatement of the fuel subsidy regime.

But Tinubu, in his Sunday broadcast, ruled out possibility of returning fuel subsidy.

He described the decision to remove the fuel subsidy as painful but necessary, while arguing that it had been a “noose around the economic jugular of our Nation” and had hindered economic development and progress.

Proofreading and editing by Fa’izatu Aliyu Doma, Journalist at Neptune Prime. 

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