Former President, Muhammadu Buhari, has finally opened up on why his administration could not implement the petrol subsidy removal before leaving office, despite the glaring signs that he had initiated it, as contained in the Petroleum Industry Act he signed.
Buhari, who broke his silence in a statement issued yesterday by his erstwhile spokesperson, Garba Shehu, said he left the policy to be implemented by his successor, Bola Tinubu, saying that had the policy been implemented, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Tinubu would have lost the last general polls.
The former president therefore, commended the steps so far taken by the Bola Tinibu’s administration in implementing the removal of petrol subsidy and attempt to unify the Naira exchange rate.
Shehu said the statement, titled Buhari didnt fail to remove subsidy , was a response to persistent queries by some critics who have questioned why it took Tinubu only weeks to remove the petrol subsidy whereas Buhari didnt do so for several years.
He disclosed that successful presidential indicated that the ruling party would have lost the 2023 election if the Petroleum Industry Act, containing the petrol subsidy removal, was implemented before then.
In the statement, Shehu stated amongst others: Poll after polls showed that the party would have been thrown out of office if the decision as envisaged by the new Petroleum Industry Act was made.
For those with short memories, many of those subsides were all in place when Buhari was elected to office in 2015: all those in place were gone by May 2023 including the annual fertilizer subsidy that weighed 60-100 billion Naira (that is trillion naira in about 10 years yes, you read that right) heavy on the federal budget each year.
So no, Buhari didnt remove the petrol subsidy but in vitally important stages he removed every other budget-busting, egregious, economic-growth-crushing subsidy along the way.
The statement further said, In terms of the timings of the decisions to remove fuel subsidy and unify the currency, the Tinubu/Shettima administration has done overwhelmingly well. Even more importantly, they have been most dexterous in managing the aftermath of the decisions by successfully avoiding any crisis.
To this extent, our wish and prayers are that fellow countrymen will continue to support the new leadership in these very laudable decisions and, in particular, for the Labour leadership and civil society to work with them to ensure that the palliative efforts as promised are successfully implemented.
The decision to remove subsidies, as in our case and we believe in all situations was not for the President to take all by himself.
Thats why its important to remind ourselves and all those who have conveniently forgotten that Buhari administration had been on this pathway from the very beginning in 2015. Removing subsidies for the Naira and PMS was cued and put on hold”.
In the view of many-including those in the security circles- only a new administration with goodwill that fills a warehouse can attempt this, and here now comes in the wit and grit of the Tinubu government.
Finally, we must be politically honest with ourselves. The Buhari administration in its last days could not have gone the whole way because the APC had an election to win. And that would have been the case with any political party that was seeking election for another term with a new principal at its head.
As they say, there are times when you have to lose in order to win.
