As the presidential candidates and their campaign teams continue to reel out promises and manifestos to the electorate ahead of the much-anticipated general elections in 2023, veteran journalist and broadcaster, Dr. Reuben Abati has come out to share his thoughts on the most recent statement made by the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in which he vowed to remove petroleum subsidy if elected into office via the upcoming polls.
While delivering a keynote address at a meeting with the business community in Lagos on Thursday, December 22, 2022, Tinubu insisted that no amount of protests from Nigerians will deter him from bringing an end to the contentious and fraudulent petroleum subsidy.
While reacting to the statement during a session of ARISE TV’s ‘The Morning Show’ on Friday, Abati opined that though the APC candidate’s resolution to remove petroleum subsidy if elected is a good idea, it is quite ironic, however, the same Tinubu was the person who led a mass protest against the Goodluck Jonathan PDP administration when it sought to tackle the same issue.
Going further, the veteran broadcaster, who was the media spokesman for President Jonathan at the time, pointed out that had Tinubu and his cronies allowed the removal of the subsidy from the downstream sector ten years ago, Nigerians would have begun to reap the benefits by now.
He said; “I think many Nigerians will remember what happened in 2012, the phrase used then was not even the removal of subsidy, but deregulation of the downstream sector. And it caused a lot of riots. And at that time, ironically, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his allies opposed the attempt by the government to deregulate the downstream sector, or what some people now refer to as the removal of subsidies.
So, it is interesting to see, that ten years down the line, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu of the APC is now a ‘convert’ to the idea of subsidy removal. Because in ten years, the subsidy regime, which as of 2012 was pointed out as being unsustainable, and even before then, has resulted in the loss of revenue to the government. Money that should have been used for development was diverted into subsidizing the consumption of petrol.” – Arise TV.
