The incoming administration of Bola Tinubu will decide the date for fuel subsidy removal after the inauguration coming up next month.
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council confirmed this as the current subsidy regime ends in June 2023.
President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration has already made it known that the subsidy policy would end after the budget for the initiative lapses in June.
During his presidential campaign, Tinubu maintained that if elected, his administration would remove fuel subsidy even if Nigerians protested against the policy.
However, less than two months before his inauguration, there has been anxiety over his plan for subsidy removal as the development may push fuel prices to N750 per litre.
Speaking on the development, Festus Keyamo, the PCC spokesman during an interview with The Punch said when Tinubu takes over, he would decide when to remove it.
He added that the incoming government would not remove subsidy without putting palliatives in place for the masses.
He said, “It is one of the policies by which we campaigned. I cannot sit here and tell you when exactly it will be done. But the removal of subsidies is something that the president-elect pledged to do. Not only him. Virtually all the leading presidential candidates took the same position.
“Why the FG targeted June (to end subsidy) was that the budget only provided for subsidy up to June. That was the reason. But the new government will decide when it wants to. Of course, you know that when a new government takes over, the country is at its beck and call. Yes, I agree that government is a continuum. But all policies are not a continuum.
“I can assure you that the president-elect being who he is will not do that without corresponding palliative (measures) to the masses. I can tell you that confidently.”
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has vowed to resist Tinubu’s plan to stop fuel subsidy payments.
The organisation insisted that the countries’ refineries must be functional before the subsidy can be tampered with.
But Keyamo cautioned the NLC not to incite the masses against the policy saying all the leading presidential candidates including the Labour Party candidate, Peter Obi endorsed the subsidy removal during their presidential campaigns.
