Keyamo explains why Buhari did not remove subsidy

Festus Keyamo, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment says President Muhammadu Buhari refused to remove the subsidy on fuel because of his empathy for Nigerians.

Keyamo said this during a chat with Arise TV on the legacy the Buhari government is leaving behind after 2023 on Tuesday, October 25, 2022.

He said the president wishes to put some measures in place to cushion the effect of subsidy removal on Nigerians.

Festus Keyamo [Twitter/@fkeyamo] Pulse Nigeria

He said, “This (subsidy removal issue) is about the empathy of President Buhari. Because he feels empathic to the Nigerian people. He needs to put some measures in place. The president stated it clearly. By June next year, they will begin to phase out subsidy.

“From Obasanjo to Yaradua to Jonathan, they had been saying the same about subsidy. The trust deficit is the problem. Why did people oppose Jonathan that time? It was because people saw the flamboyant lives that people were living then. The oil minister and all that.”

The minister further said Buhari’s ministers including him do not have an official vehicle because the president has been frugal in his economic policies.

“I don’t have an official car for the past four years. So, we live a spartan life. We don’t live that kind of ostentatious life that the other government lived. So, there’s some kind of trust,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Presidential candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, and his ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) counterpart, Bola Ahmed Tinubu have promised to remove fuel subsidies if elected.