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Incoming Government Will Remove Subsidy, Says Adamu Garba

“The subsidy became a problem for Nigeria because of the excessive use of forex. And the fact that we are going to remove the subsidy and still use naira to transact internally with Dangote Refinery, I think it is going to have a smooth sell."


In this file photo, a fuel attendant fills a tank at a fuel station in Kano, northwest Nigeria, on February 8, 2023. (Photo by PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP)

 

An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain Adamu Garba says the next government will remove subsidy. 

The former Deputy Director, Media, APC Independent Campaign Council, spoke as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday.

“It is a stand that the next administration is going to remove subsidy. It was made very clear in the statement of the incoming president. He [Bola Tinubu] made it clear in many places that he is going to remove subsidies,” he said.

The former senator said that if the removal of fuel subsidy comes alive, the Dangote Refinery would supplant it.

“The subsidy became a problem for Nigeria because of the excessive use of forex. And the fact that we are going to remove the subsidy and still use naira to transact internally with Dangote Refinery, I think it is going to have a smooth sell,” he said.

‘Government Tried Their Best’

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Adamu Garba argued that the Dangote Refinery is a game changer for Nigeria.

 

“Government is not the very easiest partner in running private businesses and I think the government took the best approach by privatising NNPC, and then also investing in the Dangote refinery and bringing in the mainstream.

“We can’t expect a plant to start now and then have the perfect production of full capacities for 650,000 barrels. But again, we have started something that is unimaginable in the history of Nigeria.

“We even have our own local refinery that refused to work simply because of the interest of the international market that constantly works to make sure that we don’t operate our refinery.

“Now that the market is free, there is an enabling law that would drive this free market system.”