A former House of Representatives Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, has said that President Bola Tinubu wasn’t the one that removed subsidy on petroleum products.
He said though the President made the pronouncement that ‘subsidy is gone’, he was not the one that put the policy in motion.
Dogara explained that before Tinubu was elected, there was no provision for subsidy payment in the budget approved by the National Assembly.
Speaking on Friday on Channels TV, the former speaker said though Nigerians are feeling the accompanying effect of subsidy removal, it was the right move for the progress of the country.
He added that the era where Nigerians just talk about several challenges bedevelling the country without discussion on solution must be kept behind, saying real changes come with sacrifices.
“The problem with this country is that people always want to talk about her problems and they want to leave Nigeria because of it as if these problems are not there in other climes. But nobody is talking about solutions, even among the elites. When you sit with them, everyone is talking about the problems and not solutions,” Dogara said.
On the subsidy removal and attendant consequences, the former speaker 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.
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?”
Tinubu, on May 29, 2023, at his inauguration in Abuja, announced that his administration will remove the subsidy on Petroleum products.
“Subsidy is gone,” Tinubu exclaimed during his inaugural address at Eagle Square, Abuja, shortly after he was sworn in as the 16th President of Nigeria.
The President said there was no provision for subsidy in the national budget from June 2023 and, therefore, it stands removed.
– PUNCH