A senior lawyer, and former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), has alleged that President Bola Tinubu has reintroduced fuel subsidy without telling Nigerians.
Agbakoba in an interview with Arise TV on Tuesday argued that Nigerians can’t be buying fuel for as low as N600 to N700 based on current market forces if truly subsidy was no longer in play.
According to him, if international fuel prices are applied, petrol should be selling between N1000 to N1,100 per litre at the moment in Nigeria.
He added that all over the world, there is no government that doesn’t subscribe to subsidy in one form or the other.
In his words, “Every government in the world does subsidy.
Right now, President Tinubu has reintroduced subsidy for fuel consumption without telling us.
“It is clear that if we apply international prices to fuel, we should be paying N1000–N1100, but it’s only N600–N700. So let’s stop all the hypocrisy, let’s encourage local production, let’s sell the four refineries, let’s allow the indigenous owners of modular refineries to come on board.”
It would be recalled that President Tinubu had on the day of his inauguration on May 29, 2023, declared that the era of fuel subsidy in Nigeria is gone.
The announcement triggered an immediate increase in the price of petrol as well as a subsequent increase in the price of other products in the country.
