Human rights lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) has asked the President Bola Tinubu led federal government to review the fuel subsidy removal policy following claims that Nigeria still pays for it.
Although Tinubu, on his inauguration as president, declared an end to the subsidy era, the World Bank and the chief executive officer and managing director of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited Mr. Robert Dickerman recently claimed that the federal government still pays subsidy for the product.
As such, Falana in a statement called on the government to respond to them and also review the policy.
“Curiously, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited has not deemed it fit to deny the serious allegation that fuel subsidy has been restored. Since there is no provision for fuel subsidy in the 2023 and 2024 Appropriation Acts the federal government should, without any further delay, confirm or deny the serious allegation and end the opacity surrounding the importation of fuel from foreign countries,” Falana said.
“It would be recalled that after the Muhammadu Buhari administration announced that it had removed subsidy on petrol, it turned around to spend N11 trillion on the so-called “under-recovery” within a period of 8 years.
“Therefore, instead of urging Nigerians to continue to endure the hardship caused by the removal of subsidies on petrol, the Bola Tinubu administration. If the federal government is spending as much as N1 trillion on fuel subsidy per month, it is high time the policy was reviewed in the interest of the Nigerian people.”