Former Bauchi Governor Isa Yuguda, on Saturday, said President Bola Tinubu-led government still pays minimal subsidy on petrol despite reports of its removal.
According to him, a complete removal will inflict untold hardship on Nigerians.
The ex-governor, however, urged states to judiciously make use of the double allocations that they now get by channeling it to drive down the cost of products in the economy.
“Let me put the issue of subsidy removal in its proper context. I was a member of the Presidential Committee on Economic Meltdown in 2008, 2009. And I chaired the committee on investigating the subsidy regime.
“To the best of my understanding, the removal itself was a decision of our representatives in the National Assembly because they prepared the 2023 budget and they did not provide for subsidy post 29th May 2023. So, if the budget of 2023 did not include a provision for the entire subsidy, including the one that has been removed. Then, it’s not a new thing. For everybody that reads the budget, Nigerians would have understood that there was no provision for a certain percentage of the subsidy post-May 29th.
“So what Mr President did was not news, it was something that was already there and he had to bite the bullet to announce it. So, you can’t say that he actually removed the subsidy; the subsidy was removed by the budget of 2003, it was a law.
“If he (Tinubu) came in and said he paid a subsidy, where is he going to get the money from? And if he does take the money from somewhere, he will be committing an impeachable offense,” he told Channels TV.