Isa Yuguda, Ex-Governor of Bauchi state revealed that the federal government still continues to pay subsidy on petroleum products.
Yuguda said this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics on Monday
Recall that President Bola Tinubu, in his inaugural speech, announced that “The fuel subsidy is gone.”
The President stressed that the 2023 Budget has no provision for fuel subsidy, therefore, subsidy payment was no longer of importance.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) during its reports last month also advised Nigeria to completely phase out costly fuel and electricity subsidies as part of measures to curtail economic challenges.
Speaking on the issue of subsidy, ”If the IMF says we are paying subsidy then we are. 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.”
Based on the economic hardship in the country, the Ex-Governor said the average Nigerian will not understand the plights faced by the president in having to resolve the economic situation.
The former governor stated that the masses needs proper sensitization on how the government policies will change the nation and urged members of the President’s cabinet to make it a point of duty.
He added, ”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.”
