Festus Osifo, the president of the Trade Union Congress
(TUC) has asked the federal government to account for money saved from the
removal of fuel subsidy. Recall that President Bola Tinubu had announced the
removal of petrol subsidy at his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023. Following
the speech, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) raised petrol price
from N189 per litre to N568 per litre.
With NNPC spending N4.39 trillion ($9.7 billion) on a petrol
subsidy in 2022, Tinubu said removing the subsidy on premium motor spirit (PMS)
would reduce expenses and help the government to save more from revenue
generated. Speaking on the matter during an interview on AriseTV on Wednesday,
Osifo asked where the money saved since removing the subsidy is.
He said since the government announced N1 trillion has been
saved, there is no reason to continue borrowing money, adding that FG should
simply deploy part of the funds on Nigerians.
“The President and commander in chief on its own came and said the country
has saved N1 trillion. The Federal government went everywhere to announce that
if subsidy is removed, it’s going to save substantial money,” Osifo
said.
“And so, we don’t expect them to go everywhere and start borrowing money.
They told us they are going to save money. So where is the money that you have
saved and how have they deployed this money?”
Osifo’s comment comes a day after TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC)
announced that workers’ unions will embark on an indefinite strike on October
3, 2023. He said the unions have exhausted their arsenals and have been left
with no choice but to proceed on the definite strike next month.
