Past Nigerian presidents have not been ‘old enough’ to face Nigerians with the truth about subsidy.
They have blatantly lied to Nigerians that there is nothing like subsidy.
Senator Bola Tinubu, upon being sworn-in as the 16th president of Nigeria, boldly assured Nigerians that fuel subsidy will be removed.
Read Also: Fuel Subsidy Is Gone – Tinubu
He made the statement while giving his inaugural speech on May 29.
Tinubu’s Resolve
The President while addressing the nation on May 29 said: “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”.
What Does This Mean
This means that the era of “subsidy is gone”.
Fuel subsidy removal for any economy leads to higher macroeconomic instabilities and generates non-trivial implications for the response of monetary policy to an oil price shock.
Removing fuel subsidy means that resources would become free for some other sectors of the economy.
Currently a huge chunk of the country’s budgetary allocation goes into fuel subsidy.
Infrastructural development can come to play, proper invest in the health sector, education in the country can also be developed at a gradual pace.
Furthermore, with Dangote refinery finished and up and running, removing subsidy could lead to more petroleum products and reduce Nigeria’s dependence on imported fuel.
This, in turn, could boost the country’s economy and create jobs for Nigerians.
It might interest you to know that fuel subsidy has survived for so long in Nigeria because, some people have been benefiting from it.
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Since the cost of fuel subsidy is not known to all, government officials, as it has been known, enrich their pockets from the country’s account.
Sadly, Tinubu’s statement has triggered noticeable queues at fuel stations, as fuel importers begin to hoard whatever is left of the product that they have in store.
Nigerians might really be in for a hard time with President Tinubu’s decision to remove subsidy.
