The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, has alleged that the APC led federal government is not humble enough to admit its failure in the implementation of fuel subsidy removal policy.
In his inuagural speech as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on May 29, 2023, Bola Tinubu had announced that fuel subsidy has become history in Nigeria.
In a chat with newsmen in Maiduguri after delivering the lead paper at a capacity-building workshop on Enhancing Skills of Government Officials in Policy Implementation and Productive Human Resource Management for political appointees on Monday, El-rufai said the federal government is now subsidizing fuel while many people don’t know about it.
The keyword in leadership, in my view, is pragmatism. You should be pragmatic. So when you make a policy, you start implementing it, and it doesn’t seem to work well. You should have the humility to stand back and say this is not working, and you modify it.”
Applauding the policy, El-Rufai added, “It is a right policy. I have always supported the withdrawal of oil subsidy; but in the course of implementing the policy, the government realised that subsidy has to be back; right now, government is paying a lot of money for subsidy, even more than before.
“You start implementing a policy because you are absolutely sure it is the right policy, but in the course of implementation, you come across bottlenecks, and you modify.
The president, while explaining the reasons for the removal, noted that the fuel subsidy had to end because the country could not maintain it.
He added that the trillions of naira yearly spent to sustain the subsidy were meant to better the healthcare and transportation sector, schools, housing, and national security, among others.
Speaking in a nationwide broadcast, Tinubu said the money was being funnelled into a select group of individuals’ deep pockets and lavish bank accounts.
In February 2024, the International Monetary Fund had hinted that Nigeria was still subsidizing petroleum products and had advised total elimination of fuel subsidy as part of economic recovery for the nation.
