Nigeria still pays fuel subsidy, says Yuguda

A former Governor of Bauchi State, Isa Yuguda, has stated that the federal government still pays subsidy on petroleum products.

In his inaugural speech last year, President Bola Tinubu announced the five famous words “The fuel subsidy is gone,” adding that the 2023 Budget made no provision for fuel subsidy and more so, subsidy payment was no longer justifiable.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in one of its reports last month also advised Nigeria to completely phase out costly fuel and electricity subsidies as part of measures to address its economic challenges.

The removal has led to the price of petrol has tripled across major cities from less than N200 per litre to about N700 per litre. This has also led to a huge increase in the costs of goods and services, further worsening the economic situation for millions of citizens.

“If the IMF says we are paying subsidy then we are,” Yuguda said on Monday during his interview on PolitcsToday.

“But the subsidy that was removed was the one that was going into private pockets and I decoupled that subsidy that ordinarily shouldn’t have been paid.”

“If it should have been paid it should be paid into the treasury of the country and today that revenue increase that we see is reflected in the removal of the monies that were going into the pockets of private individuals is what is going into the treasury of the country.”

“You have that subsidy being paid on petrol products that are pumped through pipelines and in many instances they are pumped through imaginary pipelines, where the pipelines don’t exist, sow e all pay subsidy but that what was the President removed, that is why most states are getting twice or thrice of their allocation.”

Speaking on the economic hardship in the country, the former governor said the average Nigerian will not understand the challenges the president has to face in resolving the economic situation.

He indicated that the members of the president’s cabinet need to help in sensitising the masses on how the government policies will change the nation

“I will expect the cabinet of Mr President to go down the strata of our society and explain to the people that this is the situation that we have found ourselves in.”

“If we hadn’t had our Central Bank messing us up and the economy that has been mismanaged in the past, it wouldn’t be the way it is today.”