Governor of Nassarawa State, Abdullahi Sule, has backed the removal of fuel subsidy.

President Bola Tinubu had at his inauguration declared that “subsidy is gone,” a decision that led to a hike in the prices of the commodity as well as initial shortages.

But Governor Sule, speaking hours after his counterparts backed the move, supported the decision, pinning it on low revenue by states.

“When I was managing director of African Petroleum in the year 2001, that was when we started the issue of subsidy. I have always supported the removal of subsidies as a professional, as my background because I knew there was too much fraud in it,” he said on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday.

“Now, if you say governors all support it and now you actually cap it up by saying that some states can’t pay salaries. Of course, they must support it thinking that now they would have sufficient funds to do that [pay salaries]. So, that is the reason.”

The governor also lamented the inability to get reliable data on Nigeria’s fuel consumption which he said strengthens the argument for subsidy removal.

“As I am talking to you now, NNPC just last week confirmed to us that it is between 65 and 70 million litres. That is what the government is paying. So, I asked the officials of the NNPC, ‘How are you determining this consumption?’ They said, ‘Well, we are determining the consumption by lifting’.

“You are not determining the consumption by actual usage within Nigeria. That is the only way they can do that. If you have a company and have ten petrol stations and you come and they [NNPC] give you ten trucks to take to ten petrol stations. If you take only five and take the remaining five out of the country, they [NNPC] have no way of confirming this.”

He claimed that Nigeria has been subsidising the product for neighboring countries because fuel is cheaper in those nations than in the country.