El-Rufai: FG’s Spending on Fuel Subsidy Surpasses Previous Levels

The immediate past governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, has said the Federal Government was now paying more for fuel subsidy than before.

El-Rufai disclosed this while speaking with newsmen after delivering the lead paper at a capacity-building workshop on Enhancing Skills of Government Officials in Policy Implementation and Productive Human Resource Management for political appointees in Maiduguri on Monday.

He said, “The federal government is now subsidizing fuel; many people don’t know this.”

Applauding the policy, El-Rufai added, “It is a right policy. I have always supported the withdrawal of oil subsidy; but in the course of implementing the policy, the government realised that subsidy has to be back; right now, government is a lot of money for subsidy, even more than before.
“You start implementing a policy because you are absolutely sure it is the right policy, but in the course of implementation, you come across bottlenecks, and you modify.

“The keyword in leadership, in my view, is pragmatism. You should be pragmatic. So when you make a policy, you start implementing it, and it doesn’t seem to work well. You should have the humility to stand back and say this is not working, and you modify it.”

Meanwhile, the former Kaduna governor also took a swipe at the critics of President Bola Tinubu’s administration over leadership deficit, accusing them of hasty judgment.

“It is too early to judge the present administration.

“It (the Tinubu administration) has been there just for nine months now,” he observed, adding, “Leadership is a work in progress.”

Stressing further, the former Kaduna governor maintained, “Leadership is a continuous thing, and you cannot judge someone who has four years in just nine months.”

He, however, charged Nigerians to pray for their leaders for God’s guidance.

Tinubu, on inauguration day, declared that the subsidy removal on fuel in the country was gone.

The president, while explaining the reasons for the removal, noted that the fuel subsidy had to end because the country could not maintain it.

He added that the trillions of naira yearly spent to sustain the subsidy were meant to better the healthcare and transportation sector, schools, housing, and national security, among others.

Speaking in a nationwide broadcast, Tinubu said the money was being funnelled into a select group of individuals’ deep pockets and lavish bank accounts.