National Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has expressed his support for the removal of petrol subsidy by the Federal Government as announced on Wednesday by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachiwku.
The former governor of Lagos in a statement issued on Thursday in Lagos the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration took a wise step to scrap the subsidy regime.
According to him, the move will made the product available to Nigerians at a cheaper price.
“We all want fuel at a cheaper price; under the subsidy, we got the right price but not the fuel. Meanwhile, some were getting rich on the common man’s predicament. They were laughing to the bank while the rest of Nigeria waited in the petrol line. This is not the way to democratic development.
“It is a recipe for creating a class of economic predators that would feed off the people and in time gain such power and wealth that they would seek to buy and control if not own government as well,” Tinubu said in the statement.
He added that, “President Buhari has with this decision put an abrupt and just end to this assault against our economy and political system. He has made a courageous and prudent decision. It is time to end the fuel subsidy and to begin to subsidize the true needs of the people.
“To Mr. President, I say congratulations for having the courage to remove the subsidy. The President has taken this tough decision in the interest of the present and future generations of Nigerians.
“For some time, I have been a proponent of this action. I believed ending of subsidy was the only sure way to put to sleep the myriad demons that had invaded the subsidy process, sucking the blood of Nigeria, swallowing much of our needed money.
“The rentiers will no longer be able to make free money at our common expense. They will no longer be laughing to the bank while you languish in endless fuel queues.
“Nigeria has taken the historic step needed to create a competitive environment that that will eliminate smuggling, provide incentives for private refineries and attract foreign investments in the downstream sector and create employment.
“Instead of just shipping off the oil and having the more expensive finished products sent back to us, Nigeria will move closer to realizing its potential to become the plastic centre of the continent by manufacturing these by products. Nothing can stop Nigeria from being the net exporter of fertilizer from the bye products of the oil industry.”
