Former Bauchi Governor, Isa Yuguda, disclosed on Saturday that the government led by Bola Tinubu continues to provide minimal subsidies on petrol, despite reports indicating otherwise.
Yuguda expressed concern that a full removal of subsidies would impose severe hardships on Nigerians.
He emphasized the need for states to utilize their increased allocations efficiently, directing resources toward reducing the cost of goods in the economy.
“Let me put the issue of subsidy removal in its proper context. I was a member of the Presidential Committee on Economic Meltdown in 2008, and 2009. I chaired the committee on investigating the subsidy regime.
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“To the best of my understanding, the removal itself was a decision of our representatives in the National Assembly because they prepared the 2023 budget and they did not provide for subsidy post 29th May 2023. So, if the budget of 2023 did not include a provision for the entire subsidy, including the one that has been removed. Then, it’s not a new thing. For everybody who reads the budget, Nigerians would have understood that there was no provision for a certain percentage of the subsidy post-May 29th.
“So what Tinubu did was not news, it was something that was already there and he had to bite the bullet to announce it. So, you can’t say that he removed the subsidy; the subsidy was removed by the budget of 2003, it was a law.
“If he (Tinubu) came in and said he paid a subsidy, where is he going to get the money from? And if he does take the money from somewhere, he will be committing an impeachable offense,” he told Channels TV.