President Bola Tinubu has said that the subsidy regime which his government halted in 2023 benefitted only a tiny minority of powerful people.
According to him, such people enjoyed it to the detriment of the masses.
Tinubu stated this on on Wednesday in his Independence Day broadcast to mark Nigeria’s 65th anniversary.
He said, “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.
The President stressed that money saved from subsidy removal was being channelled into education, healthcare, security, agriculture, and infrastructure, areas he said would improve the lives of Nigerians.
“Following the removal of the corrupt petroleum subsidy, we have freed up trillions of Naira for targeted investment in the real economy and social programmes for the most vulnerable, as well as all tiers of government,” he said.
He admitted the reforms had come with hardship but assured citizens that the sacrifice was already paying off.
“I have always candidly acknowledged that these reforms have come with some temporary pains. However, the alternative of allowing our country to descend into economic chaos or bankruptcy was not an option. Our macro-economic progress has proven that our sacrifices have not been in vain. Together, we are laying a new foundation cast in concrete, not on quicksand,” he said.
