President Bola Tinubu has explained the reasons why he ended the fuel subsidy regime in the country.
Tinubu noted that the fuel subsidy had to end because the country cannot maintain it.
He added that the trillions of naira yearly spent to sustain the subsidy were meant to better the healthcare and transportation sector, schools, housing, and national security, among others.
Speaking in a nationwide broadcast on Monday, Tinubu said the money was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals.
“This group had amassed so much wealth and power that they became a serious threat to the fairness of our economy and the integrity of our democratic governance.
“This group had amassed so much wealth and power that they became a serious threat to the fairness of our economy and the integrity of our democratic governance.
“To be blunt, Nigeria could never become the society it was intended to be as long as such small, powerful yet unelected groups hold enormous influence over our political economy and the institutions that govern it.
“The whims of the few should never hold dominant sway over the hopes and aspirations of the many. If we are to be a democracy, the people and not the power of money must be sovereign.
He maintained that Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration saw the looming danger as well and it made no provision in the 2023 Appropriations for subsidy after June this year.
“Removal of this once helpful device that had transformed into a millstone around the country’s neck had become inevitable,” he said.