Dumebi Kachikwu, the Action Democratic Congress (ADC) presidential candidate in the last election, has claimed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration failed to take a systematic approach to eliminating fuel subsidies.
According to Naija News, Tinubu declared that the ‘fuel subsidy’ is no longer in effect during his inauguration speech on May 29, 2023.
He stated that his predecessor, Muhamadu Buhari, proposed no provision for fuel subsidies in the fiscal year beginning in June.
Speaking on the latest suffering and lamentation by Nigerians in the aftermath of the incumbent President’s declaration on fuel subsidy, Kachikwu stated on Monday that former President Buhari handed a banana peel to his successor, Tinubu.
According to him, Buhari did not want to take responsibility for the fuel subsidy just days before leaving office, so he delegated it to the next administration.
According to Blinkscoop News, Kachikwu stated this on Monday during an appearance on Channels Television’s Politics Today.
“Obviously, the President was handed a banana peel by the outgoing President, Buhari, who failed to provide for subsidy beyond June when he was leaving office. He obviously did not want to deal with that and he pushed on that responsibility to the incoming government.
“We also understand that the Nigerian economy is in tatters, the government doesn’t have the funding, and the NNPC is in the state of near comatose. They will crumble if they continue to fund subsidies; they are said to be owed over two trillion nairas at the moment. President Tinubu just informed Nigerians of the situation he was meeting,” Kachikwu said.
Furthermore, Kachikwu stated that Nigerians were aware that there was no provision for subsidy beyond June, but they did not expect any government to deal with it in the manner that the current government did, adding that they expected a structured approach to dealing with it.
In response to the planned strike by the Organised Labour over the removal of fuel subsidies, Kachikwu slammed the unions, claiming that they knew the government was going to remove the subsidies and that all presidential candidates had promised to do the same but never complained.
He urged Tinubu to take immediate steps to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal and urged the Federal Government to go after those abusing the subsidy system.
