Despite historic hardship and Nigerians dying in stampede while scrambling for Christmas rice, President Bola Tinubu says he has no regrets about removing petrol subsidy in May 2023.
Tinubu said this while speaking during his first presidential media chat on Monday night at his Bourdillon residence in the highbrow Ikoyi area of the state, noting that Nigeria cannot continue to be Father Christmas to neighbouring countries.
According to him, the subsidy regime was unsustainable, saying it was mortgaging the future of the country for present consumption.
“I don’t have any regrets whatsoever in removing petrol subsidy. We are spending our future, we were just deceiving ourselves, that reform was necessary,” he said.
Tinubu said petrol subsidy removal some 18 months ago have increased competition within the sector and that the pump price of petrol has gradually crashed. “The market is being saturated. No monopoly, no oligopoly, a free market economy flowing,” he said.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain also said he does not believe in price control and he won’t go that path. “I don’t believe in price control, we will work hard to supply the market,” Tinubu said.
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