The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has dismissed concerns that the President Bola Tinubu administration may have reintroduced fuel subsidy through the back door, saying the government only intervened to ensure some measure of price stability and predictability.
In recent weeks, there have been reports that the administration spent ₦169.4 billion in August to keep the fuel pump price at N620.
While the opposition latched onto the discovery to castigate the Tinubu administration, the APC on Monday night said such humongous payments do not amount to a reintroduction of subsidy.
The ruling party equally chastized Phrank Shaibu, Media Aide to the Presidential Candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar for purveying “fake news” and engaging in “other inanities” just to discredit President Tinubu’s administration.
“Shaibu’s claim that fuel subsidy is back is not correct. Government’s intervention to ensure some measure of price stability and predictability does not amount to return of the ruinous fuel subsidy of recent past”, APC stated.
APC spokesman, Felix Morka in a statement on Monday night said Shaibu in his statement was misleading Nigerians by suggesting that the APC-led Administration was hoodwinking Nigerians by propaganda.
Morka said, ‘He delved into matters he clearly does not understand or lacks the constitutive capacity to understand as a result of post-electoral traumatic stress disorder (PeTSD) arising from his boss’ serial electoral failure.
Read also: Fuel subsidy: FG-NLC meeting ends in deadlock
“Unsurprisingly, Shaibu’s only ‘evidence’ for such an arrant conclusion is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has appointed more media aides than economic and security advisers, conveniently glossing over the fact that the President was swift in rejigging the security architecture and repositioning the Armed Forces for optimal performance in defence of lives and property.
“Certainly, he does not understand the issues and the interplay of statecraft and economic management initiatives by President Tinubu to remove age-old distortions and contradictions, accelerate and solidify all round recovery and prosperity for our country”.
That Shaibu described as ‘lies’, the administration’s courageous decisions to remove fuel subsidy, harmonize the foreign exchange regimes and sign into law the Students’ Loan Act, only buttresses his poor understanding of economic development and governance.
“That the fine details of these visionary and people-centred policies are still being worked out and have yet to run their due course cannot and do not negate their valid objectives and potential transformative impact.
Speaking further, Morka added that the President has dutifully appointed experienced and highly skilled professionals to key institutions of the economy, including the Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, and Federal Inland Revenue Service FIRS and created the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in a patriotic zeal to reposition and grow the economy.
“Lifting the Visa ban on Nigerians by the United Arab Emirates UAE authorities should ordinarily make any well-meaning Nigerian happy. Diplomatic rapprochement between Nigeria and UAE authorities is ongoing and details of outcomes will soon be made public.
“The matter of the proposed meeting with United States of America President Joe Biden does not even require elaboration.
“Having met with President Tinubu on the sidelines of the G-20 Nations summit in India, another meeting with President Biden during the United Nation’s General Assembly UNGA had become unnecessary and was not even on President Tinubu’s schedule, contrary to preliminary indications on the matter”, the APC spokesman added.
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