There Is A Lot Of Work To Be Done, Not Just Wake Up One Morning And Say You Removed Subsidy – Obasanjo

Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that the fuel subsidy, removed by the Federal Government in 2023, has been reintroduced due to the high inflation rate.

According to the report by Daily Trust on Tuesday, this comes as a surprise to many Nigerians, as President Bola Tinubu had declared that fuel subsidy was “gone” during his inaugural address on May 29, 2023.

Speaking during a recent interview with the Financial Times, Obasanjo criticized the government’s approach to removing the subsidy, stating that measures should have been implemented before its removal.

He explained that the subsidy has “come back” due to inflation, which has led to an increase in petrol prices from N200 to over N600 per litre.

Obasanjo stressed the need for investor confidence in Nigeria, urging a shift from a transactional economy to a transformational economy.

He said, “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done, not just wake up one morning and say you removed the subsidy. Because of inflation, the subsidy that we have removed is not gone. It has come back.”

Speaking further, he said, “You have to go from a transactional economy to a transformational economy.”

His comments came as nationwide protests demand the reinstatement of the fuel subsidy regime.

On August 1, Nigerians had stormed the streets to protest against hunger and economic hardship in the country. They said that President Tinubu’s economic policies have made life difficult for the masses, and called on the President to reverse the policies.

However, President Tinubu in his address to the nation has ruled out the possibility of reinstating fuel subsidy. He described the decision to remove the subsidy as “painful but necessary” for economic development and progress……See_More