Just Like Buhari Promised, Tinubu Will Remove Fuel Subsidy – Keyamo

The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has said the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will remove fuel subsidies in line with the plan of President Muhammadu Buhari.

But the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed to resist the plan to remove subsidy, insisting that the refineries must be functional before the subsidy can be tampered with.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited recently revealed the country was spending over N400 billion monthly on petroleum subsidy, which it argued is largely unsustainable.

Speaking to The PUNCH, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, revealed that the president-elect will decide when the fuel subsidy will be removed.

Keyamo, the Chief Spokesperson of the Tinubu-Shettima campaign, cautioned that the former Lagos governor should be left alone to decide on the date of his choice to execute it.

He stated, “It is one of the policies by which we campaigned. I cannot sit here and tell you when exactly it will be done. But the removal of subsidies is something that the president-elect pledged to do. Not only him. Virtually all the leading presidential candidates took the same position.

“Why the FG targeted June (to end subsidy) was that the budget only provided for subsidy up to June. That was the reason. But the new government will decide when it wants to. Of course, you know that when a new government takes over, the country is at its beck and call. Yes, I agree that government is a continuum. But all policies are not a continuum.”

Keyami, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, revealed that Tinubu’s administration would carry out plans to cushion the impact of removing the subsidy.

He stated, “I can assure you that the president-elect being who he is, will not do that without corresponding palliative (measures) to the masses. I can tell you that confidently.”

Peter Obi: FG Slams NLC

Keyamo, however, slammed the NLC for trying to incite the masses against the decision to remove the subsidy.

He noted that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, similarly endorsed the subsidy removal during the build-up to the February 25 polls.

According to him, the NLC and the Trade Union Congress had no moral right to ask the Federal Government to retain fuel subsidy when it openly endorsed a presidential candidate that called for its removal.

“This was what I have been saying since last year. All of you in the media did not give it any attention. I knew what was coming. That was why I kept asking why the NLC was supporting Peter Obi and his Labour Party.

“Organised labour has no moral right to turn around this time to say they want to uphold fuel subsidy when removal of fuel subsidy was one of the cardinal campaign points of Peter Obi. Yet, the NLC threw its weight behind him. What moral justification do they have to want to uphold it now? At the end of the day, it is political. So they should tell the nation why they did that. Now is the time for judgment,” he said.