By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The immediate past Governor of Kaduna State, Mr Nasir El-Rufai, has claimed that the federal government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu is now paying more for petrol subsidy than his predecessor, Mr Muhammadu Buhari.
Recall that at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, Mr Tinubu announced an end to the payment of subsidies on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol.
He said the action was taken because Mr Buhari did not make provision for subsidy payment in the 2023 budget from July 1, saying he was not ready to use scarce funds to make fuel cheaper for consumers.
When he assumed office, the product was sold at less than N200 per litre, but at the moment, it sells at about N650 per litre. The price has remained almost constant despite the price of crude oil rising at the global market and the exchange rate fluctuating.
Speaking with newsmen on Monday in Maiduguri, Borno State, Mr El-Rufai, who visited the Borno State Governor, Mr Babagana Zulum, said many Nigerians do not know that the government was paying more for subsidy now than before.
“Fuel subsidy is another policy that has been implemented by the president, it’s the right policy. I always supported withdrawing fuel subsidy.
“But, in the course of implementation as you can see the government has now realized that the subsidy has to be back because right now, we are paying a lot of money for subsidy even more than before.
“This is because the impact has been seen and the packages of support that would reduce the impact have not been so effective in reducing the impact, so the federal government is back now subsidizing petrol,” he stated.
“We are still subsidising petrol because the government has realised that the way it implemented the fuel subsidy initially required some adjustments. That’s what I keep saying about policy and policy pragmatism,” the former Governor added.
Recall that in February, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirmed that the federal government had resumed the payment of petrol subsidies.
