A Must Read! Fuel Subsidy, A Small Set Of Powerful Nigerians Controlled Our Economy – President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

President Bola Tinubu on Monday during a nationwide broadcast maintained that the fuel subsidy had to go. The President added that the once useful measure had outlived its usefulness and has cost Nigeria trillions of naira yearly.

                  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

Tinubu, said that the wealth of Nigerians was given out to a handful of people through fuel subsidy, for several years and multiple exchange rates before he came on board.

The President further highlighted that, "Such a vast sum of money would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security. Instead, it was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals.

"This group had amassed so much wealth and power that they became a serious threat to the fairness of our economy and the integrity of our democratic governance.

"To be blunt, Nigeria could never become the society it was intended to be as long as such small, powerful yet unelected groups hold enormous influence over our political economy and the institutions that govern it.

"The whims of the few should never hold dominant sway over the hopes and aspirations of the many. If we are to be a democracy, the people and not the power of money must be sovereign.

"The preceding administration saw this looming danger as well. Indeed, it made no provision in the 2023 Appropriations for subsidy after June this year. Removal of this once helpful device that had transformed into a millstone around the country’s neck had become inevitable.

"Also, the multiple exchange rate system that had been established became nothing but a highway of currency speculation. It diverted money that should have been used to create jobs, build factories and businesses for millions of people.

"Our national wealth was doled on favourable terms to a handful of people who have been made filthy rich simply by moving money from one hand to another. This too was extremely unfair.

"It also compounded the threat that the illicit and mass accumulation of money posed to the future of our democratic system and its economy," he said.