Former President Olusegun Obasanjo announced that the fuel subsidy, which the Federal Government eliminated in 2023, has been reinstated due to rising inflation.
During his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, President Bola Tinubu proclaimed that fuel subsidy “is gone.”
As a result, petrol prices surged from approximately N200 to over N700 per litre.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Obasanjo criticized the government’s approach to the subsidy removal.
He argued that the government should have implemented measures to cushion the impact before eliminating the subsidy.
However, he explained that the subsidy has “come back” in response to the inflationary pressures.
“There’s a lot of work that needs to be done. You can’t just wake up one morning and declare the subsidy removed. Because of inflation, the subsidy we thought was gone has returned,” Obasanjo stated.
He also emphasized the necessity of building investor confidence in Nigeria, saying, “We must transition from a transactional economy to a transformational economy.”
