Tinubu’s government still subsidising fuel in trillions of naira — el-Rufai

Kaduna State’s immediate past governor, Nasiru el-Rufai, stated yesterday that the Federal Government has been subsidising fuel, popularly known as Premium Motor Spirit, or PMS, in trillions of naira, since the beginning.

He said that from the government’s founding on May 29, 2023, under President Bola Tinubu’s direction, almost N8 trillion has been spent on petrol subsidies.

He argued that the price of a litre of fuel would have been far higher without subsidy payments than diesel, which is currently sold for more than N1,000 depending on the area, and petrol, which is priced between N600 and N750 per litre.

In Maiduguri, the former governor addressed the head of the department, heads of agencies and departments, chairmen of local government, and chief executives of tertiary institutions about improving the skills of government officials in policy implementation and productive human management resources for commissioners, chief advisers, special advisers, and senior technical advisers. Governor Babagana Zulum was also among the attendees.

In his paper, “Leadership and Public Policy: Navigating Challenges and Lessons,” El-Rufai stated that the Federal Government, led by President Bola Tinubu, has been providing petrol subsidies, also known as Premium Motor Spirit, or PMS, since the beginning. Since its founding on May 29, 2023, the current administration has already spent roughly N8 trillion on this.

While speaking with Journalists after his presentation, the former governor said, “A good leader must be decisive and have the ability to make good decisions, be trustworthy, empower others irrespective of political, religious or ethnic considerations, have clear communication skills and resilient in all ramifications.

“Though it is too early to judge the present administration, it has been in government for only nine months. Leadership is work in progress. You start a policy because you are sure it is the right policy. But in the course of implementation, if you see bottlenecks, you modify, because the keyword in leadership is not ideology or anything, it is pragmatism. You are not God, only God is perfect. As a good leader when you make a policy and you start implementing, and it does not seem to work well, you should have the humility to stand back and say this is not working.

“For example, if you appoint a person to a position and he is not performing to expectation, you should have the humility to say look, I need a better person to do the job perfectly. Leadership is a continuous thing and in a term of four years, you can’t assess a government of nine months.

“But, as I also said during my presentation, the removal of fuel subsidy by the present administration is another good policy by President Tinubu. I have always supported the withdrawal of fuel subsidies. But as you can see, in the course of implementation, the government has now realized that the subsidy has to return. Right now we are paying a lot of money amounting to trillions of naira for subsidy even more than before.

“This is because the impact has been seen and the packages of support that will reduce the impact have not been effective in reducing the impact. So the federal government has to backpedal by subsidizing petrol. Many people don’t know this. If they want to know whether there is fuel subsidy or not, they should compare the prices of petrol and diesel per litre. This is because under normal circumstances, petrol is supposed to be more expensive than diesel.”