Ending fuel subsidy was tough but necessary — Tinubu
President Bola Tinubu on Wednesday said his decision to end fuel subsidy was not an easy one, but a necessary step to rescue the economy and redirect Nigeria’s wealth to benefit ordinary citizens.
In his Independence Day broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 65th anniversary, the President recalled inheriting what he described as a “near-collapsed economy” and said tough choices had to be made.
“As a new administration, we faced a simple choice: continue business as usual and watch our nation drift, or embark on a courageous, fundamental reform path. We chose the path of reform. We chose the path of tomorrow over the comfort of today,” he said.
Tinubu explained that subsidy payments and multiple exchange rates had long created a system where “a tiny minority” reaped all the benefits, while the masses got nothing.
In resetting our country for sustainable growth, we ended the corrupt fuel subsidies and multiple foreign exchange rates that created massive incentives for a rentier economy, benefiting only a tiny minority. At the same time, the masses received little or nothing from our commonwealth,” he said.
