By Babs Oyetoro, Seyi Odewale, and Francis Ajuonuma
Despite Nigerians’ continuous outcry over the removal of the fuel subsidy, President Bola Tinubu yesterday insisted that the removal was in the country’s good interest.
Speaking at a media chat with some selected media organisations at his Bourdillon residence in the highbrow Ikoyi area of Lagos state, President Tinubu explained that the removal was to save the nation’s economy from collapsing.
According to the President, the Federal Government was spending more than it generated on subsidy services, with neighbouring countries benefiting.
“There is no intention to inflict pain on Nigerians. We want the country to grow. Why must you have expenditures for which you don’t have revenue?
“There is no way you will give fuel to all neighbouring countries as if we are Father Christmas. “I don’t regret removing the oil subsidy,” he said.
Tinubu said the removal of petrol subsidies some 18 months ago increased competition within the sector and that the pump price of petrol has gradually crashed. “The market is being saturated. There is no monopoly, no oligopoly, a free market economy flowing,” he said.
The President also said he does not believe in price control and will not pursue it. “I don’t believe in price control; we will work hard to supply the market,” he said.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, faces energy challenges.
All its state-owned refineries have been non-operational for years until the recent revamping the Port Harcourt Refinery.
The country is heavily reliant on imported refined petroleum products, with the state-run NNPC being the major importer of essential commodities.
Fuel queues are commonplace in the country. Since the removal of the subsidy in May 2023, petrol prices have soared from around N200/litre to over N1,000/litre, compounding the woes of the citizens who power their vehicles and generate sets with petrol, no thanks to decades-long epileptic electricity supply.
As Nigerians battled attendant inflation, food prices and essential commodities immediately climbed through the roof.
*Insists borrowing to fund budget deficit not criminal
In his first media chat since taking office, President Tinubu stoutly defended his economic policy, including the 2025 budget proposal presented to the National Assembly, saying borrowing to fund the budget deficit is not criminal.
Some analysts have expressed dismay at President Tinubu’s budget proposal for next year, which is based on funding through external borrowing, but the President was unperturbed amid fear anchored on these various economic postulations.
According to him, “We have serious infrastructural deficiency. We have difficulty generating power, and the economy is comatose. We need to invest in our today for future prosperity.”
He, however, made an analogy with a pregnant woman who endures pain for nine months, saying that when she brings forth the baby, there will be joy everywhere. “This is what will happen to Nigeria after the painful reform we are undertaking.”
He also ruled out the possibility of rejigging his security architecture, expressing explicit confidence in the service chiefs.
“When we came in, the situation was terribly bad, but today, you can travel on the road in some parts of the country.
He expressed optimism, “Gradually, we shall be there. We are drawing water from the dry well, yet we are confident that we shall get there.”
President Tinubu also insisted that his administration would not reverse the recently introduced controversial tax reform, saying the economy could not be revived with the “old broken book.”
“Tax reform is here to stay; we cannot just continue to do what we were doing years to years in today’s economy. We cannot retool this economy with the old broken books, and I believe I have that capacity, which is why I went into the race,” Tinubu said.
“I am focused on what Nigeria needs and what I must do for Nigeria. It is not just going to be an Eldorado for everybody; the new dawn is here. I am convinced, and you should be convinced.”
On October 3, Tinubu forwarded four tax reform bills to the National Assembly.
Since their introduction at the National Assembly, the proposed tax reform bills have generated many controversies, meeting serious resistance, especially from the northern part of the country.
Following the controversies the bills have generated, the National Economic Council advised President Bola Tinubu to withdraw them to allow for further consultations, but he refused and said that they should go through the necessary legislative processes.
He also said there was no need to probe past governments whose actions or inactions put the nation in its precarious state economically. “I’m not probing service or serving chiefs,” he said.
To fight food inflation, the President said the nation needs to produce more for consumption locally, citing what should be done to alleviate the hardship on the citizenry.
He said one of them was to give low-interest-rate loans to farmers, improve their security so that they can return to farming, and encourage the procurement of farm inputs. Others are giving incentives.
*Says deaths from food stampedes, errors by organisers
The President claimed that indiscipline and poor organisation were responsible for recent stampedes in Oyo, Anambra states and Abuja where people died during distribution of palliatives.
He said, “It is very sad that people are not well organised. We just have to be more disciplined in our society, condolences to those who lost a family member,” Tinubu said while speaking on the ugly incidents that have taken multiple lives.
Emphasising that it is good to give to the less privileged, Tinubu recalled that he has been doing charity for a long time but never experienced such incident because it was well organised.
“It is good to give, I have been giving out foodstuffs, commodities including envelopes for the last 25 years, I have never experienced this kind of incident because we are organised, disciplined. And if you know you don’t have enough to give, don’t attempt to even publicize it,” Tinubu said.
Many lost their lives and several others were wounded in multiple stampedes in Anambra and the FCT during the distribution of food items on Saturday, prompting the Inspector General of Police to ask organisers of similar charity works to carry security agencies along and ensure strict adherence to crowd and safety management protocols.
A few days before that Abuja and Anambra incidents, over 30 children lost their lives in a stampede during a children funfair in Ibadan, the state capital.
