No plans to reintroduce fuel subsidy, says presidential aide

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Tope Ajayi, on Tuesday said there were no plans by the administration of President Bola Tinubu to reintroduce fuel subsidy.

Ajayi made this known on X formerly known as Twitter.

He said, “There is no plan to reintroduce any form of fuel subsidy. There is no condition to support any increase in prices at this time. President Tinubu is convinced based on information before him that we can maintain current pricing without reversing the current deregulation policy by swiftly cleaning up existing inefficiencies within the midstream and downstream Petroleum sector.”

Ajayi’s comment followed news about a temporary reintroduction of fuel subsidy following the increment in the landing cost of fuel due to the free fall of the naira in the parallel market.

Nigeria has continued to grapple with the soaring costs of goods and services due to the removal of the subsidy on petrol and the unification of the naira at both the I and E window and parallel markets by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

On Monday, independent oil marketers hinted at a possible increase in the cost of fuel owing to the increment in the landing cost of the product.