Former Nigerian President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, has stated that the fuel subsidy, which was removed by President Bola Tinubu’s administration in June 2023, has effectively returned due to the impact of inflation.
Obasanjo shared this view in a recent interview with the Financial Times, criticizing the manner in which the subsidy was removed.
He argued that the government should have implemented supportive measures before taking such a significant step.
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“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,” the former President stressed.
His remarks come in the midst of ongoing hunger protests in Nigeria.
The protests, which began on Thursday, entered their fifth day on Monday, with a primary demand for the reinstatement of the fuel subsidy regime.
However, in a Sunday broadcast, President Tinubu urged protesters to suspend their demonstrations, stating that while the decision to remove the fuel subsidy was painful, it was necessary. He explained that the subsidy had become a stranglehold on the nation’s economic “jugular” and was hindering economic development and progress.
If fuel subsidy is back or never left, why are we still paying so much at the pump?