Former Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo has on Tuesday berated a section of the media claiming that President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy. He characterized the allegations as mischievous.

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According to Keyamo, Tinubu's administration inherited a regime in which the June 2023 Appropriations Act made no provision for subsidies.

The former minister implored subsidy advocates to convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should begin on a note of illegality by promising to reintroduce something that has been removed by law.

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He implored those opposed to its elimination to persuade Nigerians that the $10 billion initially allocated for fuel subsidies would not stimulate the economy if redirected to other sectors.

His words,

“A section of the Press is mischievously twisting the narrative to read that TINUBU’s GOVERNMENT HAS REMOVED SUBSIDY. That is NOT CORRECT. TINUBU’s govt has merely inherited a regime where there was no provision for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act as of June 2023 and the Petroleum Industry Act which is now extant has no provision for subsidy. President Tinubu merely acknowledged this state of affairs in his inaugural speech at Eagle Square.

“So any advocate of subsidy should convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should start on a note of illegality by promising to reintroduce something which the law has taken away. They should also convince the Nigerian people why President Tinubu should embark on a present illegality that gulped $10 billion of our scarce or unavailable resources in 2022 alone.

 

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“Those claiming to defend the right or welfare of workers should convince the Nigerian people that $10 billion injected into the economy yearly will not jumpstart the economy enough as to create massive jobs and even increase the same minimum wage they complain about.

“That is the conversation the Nigerian people are prepared to have now.”