Reactions as Dogara says Tinubu was just joking when he announced end of fuel subsidy

By OUR REPORTER

Our investigation, however, revealed otherwise as it was established that, whereas it was true the 2023 budget had no subsidy, “it was clear cut policy of the Buhari administration that there would be no Nigerian government money spent for subsidy but NNPCL would import fuel and take care of all subsidy related matters around it. You cannot call that subsidy removal,” a sourced said.

Former House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, has shed light on President Bola Tinubu’s pronouncement on his May 29, 2023 fuel subsidy removal, stating that it was merely a joke.

He made the clarification while speaking on Channels TV on Friday September 27, 2024, one year five months after the presidential inaugural speech that has left over 200 million Nigerians wallowing in hunger, hardship and anger was made.

According to Dogara, Tinubu was not the one who removed the subsidy, as there was no provision for it in the budget approved by the National Assembly before his election.

Dogara clarified that Tinubu’s declaration that “subsidy is gone” was not backed by any policy action.

The former speaker, however, did not explain why he should be taken seriously that Tinubu, who not only vowed in his campaign promises to remove fuel subsidy but has after removing it has continued to justify why he did, was not responsible for the one year five months old suffering Nigerians have gone through under him.

On Friday, Dogara said, “In this case, there was no provision for it, and anybody who told you he (Tinubu) suspended it was just joking because how did he suspend payment that was not budgeted for in the first instance?

“There was no provision for subsidy in that budget and I am not aware of any amendment that took place to accommodate the payment of subsidy. The truth is that he (Tinubu) was not the one who removed the subsidy. But he did make that pronouncement,” Dogara said.

The former speaker explained that although Nigerians are feeling the effects of subsidy removal, it was the right move for the country’s progress. He stressed that real change requires sacrifices and that Nigerians must move beyond discussing problems to finding solutions.

He added, “In addressing this, we must accept whether we like it or not unless we are being disingenuous. Whether the President said the subsidy was gone or he was removing the subsidy, we all know that subsidy had been removed before he was elected. There was no provision for it in the budget and you know the budget is backed by the constitution. If there’s no provision for it in the budget, then how do you pay for it?”

President Tinubu had announced the removal of fuel subsidy during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, stating that there was no provision for it in the national budget from June 2023.

The DEFENDER reports that Tinubu’s supporters and some of the few Nigerians believed to be beneficiaries of his government, who have well marketed his fuel subsidy policy alongside naira floating he calls reforms programme, have laboured hard to shuft the blame for current hardship on his former President Muhammadu Buhari.

Their new claim is that Buhari already removed subsidy as there was no subsidy provision in the 2023 budget he left behind for his successor, Tinubu.

Our investigation, however, revealed otherwise as it was established that, whereas it was true the 2023 budget had no subsidy, “it was clear cut policy of the Buhari administration that there would be no Nigerian government money spent for subsidy but NNPCL would import fuel and take care of all subsidy related matters around it. You cannot call that subsidy removal,” a sourced said.

He added, “In fact, we were all aware that NNPCL, at a time some independent marketers were sabotaging Buhari’s plan to ensure that fuel was not sold beyond N87, which led to the eventual agreement that they could sell from zero naira to N145 but must not sell higher, that time NNPCL was giving allocations of its subsidised imported fuel to willing parties among major marketers.

“That happened as the independent marketers were given freedom to source for own forex and import their own commodities. Even while NNPCL had to increase to N184/N185 per litre, there were cases where even what independent marketers got N184 from NNPCL, they went behind to sell at between N250 and N300 until the Buhari’s made it impossible forbtgem to continue and many of them had to begin to start embracing franchise of either NNPCL or of any of the major marketers.

“Yes, Buhari governmrnt had no bugetry provision for fuel subsidy, NNPCL had on presidential approval. And the kind of hardship and poverty that now wire Nigerians helplessly did not happen under Buhari,” he concluded, warning those who think they can twist and slant a not distant history to relegate Buhari to kill their idea.

In countering Dogara and co, he said Tinubu was solely responsible for the fuel subsidy removal and not Buhari.