FG Paying More Money On Petrol Subsidy Than Before- El-Rufai

Former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir el-Rufai, says the Federal Government is spending more on petrol subsidy than before.

President Bola Tinubu, in his inauguration speech on May 29, 2023, said the subsidy on petrol “is gone”.

However, speaking with journalists after delivering the lead paper at a capacity building workshop, in Maiduguri yesterday, el-Rufai said the government has started paying petrol subsidy.

El-Rufai said: “The Federal Government is now subsidising fuel; many people don’t know this.

“It is a right policy. I have always supported the withdrawal of oil subsidy; but in the course of implementing the policy, the government realised that subsidy has to be back; right now, government is spending a lot of money for subsidy, even more than before.

“You start implementing a policy because you are absolutely sure it is the right policy, but in the course of implementation, you come across bottlenecks, and you modify.

“The keyword in leadership, in my view, is pragmatism. You should be pragmatic. “So when you make a policy, you start implementing it, and it doesn’t seem to work well.

“You should have the humility to stand back and say this is not working, and you modify it.” Incidentally, on August 15 last year, online newspaper, TheCable, had reported that President Tinubu is considering a “temporary subsidy” on petrol.

Sources in the presidency told TheCable that there is no final decision yet but the proposal is firmly on the table.