Fuel Subsidy Removal Decision Was Difficult – Oyintiloye

An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Osun State, Olatunbosun Oyintiloye, said the fuel subsidy regime imposed a huge financial burden on the country.

Naija News reports that Oyintiloye stated this while addressing journalists in Osogbo on Sunday. He warned politicians seeking office against misinforming the public about the policy.

The APC stalwart described President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy as a strategic economic reform capable of repositioning Nigeria for sustainable growth and recovery.

According to him, “Nigerians are beginning to appreciate the necessity of the policy following the Federal Government’s decision to end the petrol subsidy regime.”

He said the funds saved from subsidy removal have been deployed to critical sectors, including infrastructure, education, healthcare, transportation and agriculture.

The APC chieftain said the reform became necessary because Nigeria could no longer sustainably spend trillions of naira subsidising petrol consumption while simultaneously facing fiscal pressures and development deficits.

He said the policy should be viewed beyond the immediate increase in petrol prices and understood as an attempt to correct what he described as a long-standing structural distortion in the economy.

“The decision was difficult, but Nigeria needed the courage to confront a system that had become increasingly expensive to sustain.

“We cannot continue to spend trillions of naira on subsidy while critical sectors of the economy remain underfunded,” he said.

Oyintiloye said the resources saved from the subsidy regime should be redirected towards development and productive investments.

“The resources must be redirected towards development and productive investment, and that was what President Tinubu did. We are now seeing the gains,” he added.

He said the removal of the subsidy has offered several economic benefits, including reducing the government’s fiscal burden, improving budgetary discipline, and freeing resources for development.

Oyintiloye also said the reform had strengthened the economic incentive for investment in domestic refining and the downstream petroleum sector.