If elected president in 2023, Peter Obi, the Labour Party’s (LP) presidential candidate, has committed to end the contentious fuel subsidy.
According to Anaedoonline.ng, the cost of Nigeria’s gasoline subsidies in 2021 was estimated to be over $4.5 billion, or around 2% of GDP (GDP). The reported amount is higher than what the Nigerian government spends on social protection, health care, and education.
The Muhammadu Buhari administration, despite repeated requests for the expensive fuel subsidy to be eliminated immediately, has admitted that the time is not yet appropriate.
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ai Mohammed, the minister of information and culture, stated in an interview with Reuters on Monday that the federal government has delayed the scheduled withdrawal of the gasoline subsidy until further notice because of the economic difficulties and social unrest in the country.
In an interview with Arise TV on Wednesday, Obi declared that if elected president, he would end the fuel subsidy because it does not help the nation’s economy.
The former governor of Anambra State called fuel subsidies a swindle and promised to replace them with something that would help the entire nation.
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He said: “I will remove subsidy and look for something to replace it. The subsidy is a scam.
“It’s not going to be business as usual. You need to go back and read what one of my former aides wrote about how I used stinginess to cut the cost of governance.”
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