An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain, Biodun Ajiboye, has said that President Bola Tinubu did not remove the fuel subsidy upon assuming office in May 2023 but merely announced its removal.
In an interview on Monday, Ajiboye stated that the president announced the removal of the fuel subsidy without adequate preparation.
According to him, there was no possibility of sustaining the subsidy regime when Tinubu came into power.
“By May 2023, whether we liked it or not, there was no possibility of continuing with the subsidy.
Bola Tinubu did not remove the subsidy; he only announced the removal,” Ajiboye said.
He questioned claims that the government failed to prepare for the policy change, insisting that preparation was impossible for a subsidy that could no longer be funded.
“Some people are saying, why will you announce subsidy removal without preparing for it?
How do you prepare for a subsidy that was impossible to continue with as of the time he came to power?” he added.
Ajiboye further claimed that the Tinubu administration has begun reversing negative economic trends, citing improvements in employment and inflation figures.
“There are other sectors of the economy that are absorbing people, not just the major sector,” he said.
The APC chieftain also noted that the payment of salaries had stabilised, particularly within the civil service, adding that state governments were no longer borrowing to pay workers’ salaries.
“Payment of salaries has not failed one day.
State governments no longer borrow money to pay salaries as they were doing before,” Ajiboye said.
