Festus Keyamo, the Chief Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign, has debunked claims that President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy. In response to media reports suggesting otherwise, Keyamo clarified that President Tinubu’s government had inherited a system without a provision for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act effective from June 2023.
Furthermore, the recently enacted Petroleum Industry Act does not include any provision for subsidy.
In a series of tweets from his official handle, @fkeyamo, Keyamo highlighted, “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 government 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 in effect, has no provision for subsidy.”
During President Tinubu’s inaugural speech at the Eagle Square, he acknowledged this existing situation. Keyamo emphasized, “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.”
Keyamo further challenged those claiming to defend workers’ rights or welfare, asking them to demonstrate how the annual injection of $10 billion into the economy would not stimulate job creation and potentially raise the minimum wage they often complain about.
In essence, Festus Keyamo clarifies that President Tinubu’s government did not remove fuel subsidy but inherited a system without provisions for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act and the newly enacted Petroleum Industry Act.