On Sunday, President Bola Tinubu firmly ruled out the return of the subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol.
During a nationwide broadcast addressing over 200 million Nigerians amidst the ongoing #EndBadGovernance protests over economic hardship, Tinubu described the subsidy removal as a painful but necessary step for economic reforms.
“For decades, our economy has remained anaemic and taken a dip because of many misalignments that have stunted our growth,” Tinubu stated. “Just over a year ago, our dear country, Nigeria, reached a point where we couldn’t afford to continue the use of temporary solutions to solve long-term problems for the sake of now and our unborn generations.”
Tinubu emphasized that the decision to remove fuel subsidies and abolish multiple foreign exchange systems was crucial to block the greed and profits of smugglers and rent-seekers. “These actions blocked the undue subsidies we had extended to our neighbouring countries to the detriment of our people, rendering our economy prostrate,” he said.
Acknowledging the economic mismanagement of the past, Tinubu stressed, “These decisions I made were necessary if we must reverse the decades of economic mismanagement that didn’t serve us well. Yes, I agree, the buck stops on my table. But I can assure you that I am focused fully on delivering the governance to the people – good governance for that matter.”
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The return of petrol subsidies has been a key demand of young Nigerians protesting since Thursday against the country’s economic challenges.
Tinubu announced the subsidy removal during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023, causing the price of petrol to rise from around N184 to over N700 per litre.
Additionally, the government’s unification of forex windows led to the naira’s value plummeting from $1/N700 to over $1/1600 in the parallel market, resulting in soaring food and commodity prices and rampant inflation.
Protesters are demanding the restoration of petrol subsidies and the forex regime, as well as government action on food shortages, unemployment, and wasteful spending by those in power.
They also call for a reduction in the President’s cabinet and general cost of governance, immediate reforms of the electoral body INEC and anti-graft agency EFCC, and renewed efforts to combat political corruption.
