The former president of the Trade Union Congress(TUC), Peter Esele, has said he was not surprised that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration suspended the fuel subsidies removal in June.
Esele made this statement on Friday during a Channels Television interview.
The federal government had suspended the proposed fuel subsidy removal via the National Economic Council(NEC) despite the fact it would save Nigeria over N6 trillion in revenue.
But Esele, a former president of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, said the Buhari administration would have removed the fuel subsidy one year into its government if it wanted to phase out the regime.
In his statement, Buhari is simply beating about the bush on fuel subsidy removal in the last eight years without the political will to achieve it.
“I think this government if they wanted to remove fuel subsidies, would have done it in the first year of their administration when they had huge political capital to expend, but since it was not done, what they have been doing over the years is kicking the can down the room”, he said.
Following the industry data, from May 2015 to May 29, 2023, Buhari’s administration would have spent close to N10 trillion on fuel subsidies.
