Peter Obi Backs Subsidy Removal, Says No Justification for Its Return
The presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Peter Obi, has backed the removal of fuel subsidy, insisting that the alleged mismanagement of the proceeds is no justification for reversing the policy.
Obi also accused the Federal Government of failing to properly manage and invest the resources saved from the removal of fuel subsidy.
The former Anambra State governor spoke on Monday at the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) conference in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, while addressing issues surrounding the removal of fuel subsidy and its impact on Nigerians.
Obi maintained that subsidy removal remained necessary, arguing that the major problem was the failure to properly manage and invest the resources saved from the policy.
“I subscribe and I maintain that we need to remove subsidy. Mismanagement of the proceeds should not be the reason for not removing it,” Obi said.
He argued that the government should have provided alternatives to cushion the impact of subsidy removal on Nigerians while ensuring that the savings were deployed to productive sectors.
“What we should have done is that when we removed it, we should have given the people alternative usage for the subsidy,” he said.
According to Obi, the resources recovered from subsidy removal have not been adequately managed, alleging that they were also being “mismanaged and stolen.”
“What we have today is that that removal and the attendant resources being recovered is also being mismanaged and stolen,” he said.
The former governor said he had anticipated the need for a structured approach to subsidy removal and had outlined his position in his manifesto ahead of the 2023 election.
“Go to my manifesto, I said it before, I said I will do it in an organised manner and whatever we recover would be invested appropriately,” Obi said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy on his inauguration day in May 2023, triggering a sharp increase in petrol prices and widespread concerns over the rising cost of living.
While the policy has been defended by the Federal Government as necessary to reduce fiscal pressure and redirect public resources, opposition figures have continued to criticise its implementation and the use of the resulting savings.
