Nigeria lived fake lives before petrol subsidy removal – Tinubu

According to President Bola Tinubu, Nigerians led false lives prior to the 2023 elimination of the gasoline subsidy.

At the Federal University of Technology Akure’s (FUTA) combined 34th and 35th convocation ceremonies in Ondo State, Tinubu stated that his twin policies of eliminating gasoline subsidies and unifying the currency rate were intended to prevent the collapse of the Nigerian economy.

“We assumed power during a period when our economy was in a state of collapse due to significant debts from fuel and dollar subsidies,” Tinubu stated through Wahab Egbewole, the vice-chancellor of the University of Ilorin.

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He emphasized that the economy required immediate action to prevent collapse and stated that the subsidies were intended to help the impoverished and improve everyone’s quality of life in Nigeria.

“Unfortunately, unless immediate action was taken, the good life we believed we were leading was a fake one that could cause the nation to completely collapse.”

On May 29, 2023, President Tinubu said that the gasoline subsidy would be eliminated. A litre of petrol now costs more than N1,000 at filling stations all around the country as a result of this decision. Following the elimination of subsidies, the foreign exchange market was unified, and as a result, the naira is currently trading at over N1,600/$ on both the official and black markets. Nigerians have suffered greatly from these reforms, which have increased living expenses in the most populous country in Africa.

“The strategic decisions to eliminate the gasoline subsidy and unify the currency rates were necessary in order to save our children’s future and save the nation from impending collapse. I am mindful of how our people will be affected by the difficult choices. “I genuinely hope there are more gentle options,” Tinubu stated.

He pointed out that many of the country’s professionals and intellectuals, in whom enormous sums of money have been spent to train for the sake of our nation, are leaving the country “at a time their services are most required at home.”

He declared, “It is heartbreaking, and the syndrome is not the answer to our problems.”