Nigeria’s interior minister, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy, saying there was no budgetary provision to retain it when the administration assumed office.
Speaking at the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, conference in Abuja, he argued that continuing subsidy payments without appropriation would have been unlawful. He described the policy as inevitable, noting Nigeria had been spending around $25 billion annually on subsidies — a level he called unsustainable.
Also Read: No Plan To Strike Over Fuel Subsidy Removal – NLC
Mr. Tunji-Ojo added that the savings are now being redirected to infrastructure projects aimed at boosting production.
But former education minister Oby Ezekwesili challenged the government’s handling of the reform, criticising the president’s May 2023 announcement as poorly prepared and inflationary. She described it as, in her own words, ‘a good reform executed in the wrong way’, warning it worsened economic hardship for citizens.
The debate dominated the NBA panel session.
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