Tinubu Will Decide Subsidy Removal Date After Inauguration- Keyamo

President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will decide the date the fuel subsidy will be removed when he is sworn into office. This is according to the Chief Spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (PCC), Festus Keyamo. 

Earlier, the administration of the President Muhammadu Buhari said the subsidy policy would end by June when the budget for the initiative would lapse. But Festus Keyamo noted that the next government would determine the terminal date for the subsidy regime.

Why was June slated for the subsidy removal?

The Ruling Party’s presidential spokesman hinted that June 2023 was chosen by the FG to officially strike out fuel subsidies because the budget did not capture it beyond that date. He said, “Why the FG targeted June was that the budget only provided for subsidy up to June. That was the reason. But the new government will decide when it wants to.” 

Keyamo also stressed “Of course, you know that when a new government takes over, the country is at its beck and call. Yes, I agree that government is a continuum. But all policies are not a continuum.”

Keyamo speaks on Tinubu’s subsidy removal plan

The PCC spokesman said, “I can assure you that the president-elect being who he is will not do that without corresponding palliative to the masses. I can tell you that confidently.”

Taking a jab at the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) which is firmly against the subsidy removal plan, Keyamo stated that it had no right to ask the federal government to retain fuel subsidy when it openly endorsed a presidential candidate that called for its removal.

According to him, fuel subsidy removal was one of Peter Obi’s campaign’s cardinal points, yet the NLC firmly supported him. Describing their stance as political, Keyamo called on the NLC to tell Nigerians “why they did that. Now is the time for judgment.”