Festus Keyamo, the Chief Spokesman for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign, has refuted claims that President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidy.
Keyamo stated that certain media outlets were deliberately distorting the narrative to imply that Tinubu's government abolished subsidy, despite the fact that President Tinubu had declared its removal during his inaugural speech on May 29.
Keyamo, a former Minister of State for Labour, clarified that Tinubu's administration had inherited a situation where there was no provision for subsidy in the 2023 Appropriation Act from June 2023 onwards. He further noted that the recently enacted Petroleum Industry Act also did not include any provisions for subsidy.
Through a series of tweets on his official handle (@fkeyamo), Keyamo explained, "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 government 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 in effect, has no provision for subsidy."
Keyamo emphasized that President Tinubu simply acknowledged this existing state of affairs in his inaugural speech.
He challenged subsidy proponents to justify why President Tinubu should engage in illegal actions by promising to reintroduce something that the law has eliminated. He also questioned why Tinubu should embark on an unlawful act that depleted $10 billion of the country's scarce or nonexistent resources in 2022 alone.
Additionally, Keyamo called on those who claim to defend the rights and welfare of workers to convince the Nigerian people that injecting $10 billion into the economy annually would not significantly boost job creation and potentially raise the minimum wage they frequently complain about.
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