The President, Nigerian Bar Association(NBA), Olumide Akpata, has opined that the suspension of fuel subsidy removal is a hard decision made by the Federal Government because of the 2023 general elections.
The Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has on Monday announced that the Federal government has suspended the subsidy removal till further notice after it considered the adverse effect it will have on Nigerians.READ HERE
Featuring on a Channels TV programme on Monday, Akpata reacted to the suspension of fuel subsidy removal, saying;
“The subsidy issue is a hot potato for any government, particularly, in this part of the world. I would have loved to think that the decision to suspend fuel subsidy removal is because the government cares so much about the people, and that it is a government that is listening to the cries of the people, because indeed, as the minister of finance mentioned, it would be really tough if subsidy removal is implemented at this time with all of the other supervening circumstances.
“However, something tells me that this has more to do with what is in the offing, an election is coming up.”
“Those kinds of hard decisions I don’t think are the kind of decisions you want to take going into an election. Those are my thoughts. I may be wrong.
“I’m persuaded that this is just a temporary solution pending when the political juggernauts come back from the field”.
