A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, has said that contrary to the widely-held belief, President Bola Tinubu was not the one who removed subsidy on petroleum products.
Tinubu, on May 29, 2023, at his inauguration in Abuja, had announced that there was no provision for subsidy in the national budget from June 2023, in what is now a popular statement, ”Subsidy is gone.”
Speaking on Channels TV on Friday, Dogara said though Tinubu made the pronouncement, he didn’t put the policy in motion.
The former speaker said before Tinubu was elected, and assumed power, there was no provision for subsidy payment in the budget approved by the National Assembly.
He explained that it was the right move for the progress of the country, even though Nigerians are feeling the effect.
“The problem with this country is that people always want to talk about her problems and they want to leave Nigeria because of it as if these problems are not there in other climes. But nobody is talking about solutions, even among the elites. When you sit with them, everyone is talking about the problems and not solutions,” Dogara said.
On consequences of the subsidy removal, Dogara said, “In this case, there was no provision for it, and anybody who told you he (Tinubu) suspended it was just joking because how did he suspend payment that was not budgeted for in the first instance?
“There was no provision for subsidy in that budget and I am not aware of any amendment that took place to accommodate the payment of subsidy. The truth is that he (Tinubu) was not the one who removed the subsidy. But he did make that pronouncement.
“In addressing this, we must accept whether we like it or not unless we are being disingenuous. “Whether the President said the subsidy was gone or he was removing the subsidy, we all know that subsidy had been removed before he was elected. There was no provision for it in the budget and you know the budget is backed by the constitution. If there’s no provision for it in the budget, then how do you pay for it?”
