Tinubu did not Eliminate Fuel Subsidy – Keyamo

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria and party chieftain of the All Progressives Congress Festus Keyamo, has said President Bola Tinubu did not eliminate fuel subsidy, adding that major parties and candidates agreed that fuel subsidy would go IMMEDIATELY. 

All the major parties and candidates agreed that fuel subsidy would go IMMEDIATELY. The Nigeria Labour Congress fully endorsed the candidature of Peter Obi who supported removal of subsidy. They are now saying they told him they were not in support of that. When? On what… pic.twitter.com/9EVIAtuJC1

— Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK) (@fkeyamo) May 31, 2023

Earlier he noted that Tinubu’s administration merely took over from a system in which there was no provision for subsidy in the Petroleum Industry Act, and the 2023 Appropriation Act, which began in June 2023.

The former Minister of State for Labour said a section of the media is “mischievously twisting the narrative to read that Tinubu’s government has removed subsidy,” although President Tinubu stated during his inaugural speech on May 29 that the subsidy was no longer in place.

A section of the Press is mischievously twisting the narrative to read that TINUBU’s GOVERNMENT HAS REMOVED SUBSIDY. That is NOT CORRECT. TINUBU’s govt has merely inherited a regime where there was no provision for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act as from June, 2023 and the…

— Festus Keyamo, SAN, CON, FCIArb (UK) (@fkeyamo) May 30, 2023

The Chief Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign, in a series of tweets on his official handle, @fkeyamo said, “A section of the Press is mischievously twisting the narrative to read that Tinubu’s government has removed subsidy. That is not correct. Tinubu’s govt has merely inherited a regime where there was no provision for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act as of June 2023 and the Petroleum Industry Act which is now extant has no provision for subsidy.

“President Tinubu merely acknowledged this state of affairs in his inaugural speech at the Eagle Square.

“So, any advocate of subsidy should convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should start on a note of illegality by promising to reintroduce something which the law has taken away. They should also convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should embark on a present illegality that gulped $10 billion of our scarce or unavailable resources in 2022 alone.”

He added that those claiming to defend the rights or welfare of workers should convince the Nigerian people that the $10 billion injected into the economy annually will not jumpstart the economy enough to create massive jobs and even increase the same minimum wage they complain about.