Amid calls to reinstate the fuel subsidy removed in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, ruled out a return to Nigeria’s petrol subsidy regime, warning against reversing his administration’s economic reforms.
President Tinubu made the remarks in his Independence Day address on Thursday, as Nigeria marked the 66th anniversary of its independence.
The President defended the reforms introduced since he took office in 2023, saying his administration had chosen to confront longstanding weaknesses in the economy rather than pursue policies that merely softened their effects.
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“Our reforms did not create the weaknesses in our economy. They confronted them,” Tinubu said.
He, however, acknowledged that the reforms had been difficult and that their “Side effects were real,” but argued that abandoning them would mean returning to policies that had failed to address the underlying problems.
Tinubu also warned against calls from what he called “certain influential but regressive voices” to abandon the reforms and restore subsidies.
“Now, as certain influential but regressive voices would have us abandon the treatment and return ourselves to the abuse of addictive subsidies, we must resist their siren song,” he said.