President Bola Tinubu has said he has no regrets over the removal of the fuel subsidy, vowing that Nigeria will never go back to it and likening any return to asking the biblical Moses to go back to Egypt.
Tinubu spoke on Monday evening at the forum tagged ‘Together till 2027: An Evening with Original City Boy’, organised by the City Boy Movement in conjunction with the Relax-Tinubu-Is-Fixing-Nigeria movement, both of which are geared towards his reelection at the 2027 polls.
Recalling the start of his administration, the President said he scrapped the subsidy on his first day in office.
“I came and I removed the subsidy the first day,” he said, adding that Nigeria was heading for bankruptcy, with “nothing left to pay the subsidy”.
The president threw jabs at the African Democratic Congress Presidential Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, who promised a return to subsidy.
Citing what he called his studies of scripture in the Bible and the Holy Quran, Tinubu recalled how the Red Sea parted when Moses left Egypt.
He likened the end of the subsidy regime to the exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt, saying, “You cannot ask Moses to go back to Egypt.
“I could listen to my political opponents promising a return to subsidy. Most of all, sometimes I remember my scripture studies, both the Bible and the Holy Quran. When Moses left Egypt, they faced the challenge, and the Red Sea parted and gave way.
“You cannot ask Moses to go back to Egypt. We wake up with ideas, original thoughts, and deep thinking to move this country forward. With your energy, your support, we will never go back to Egypt. No regrets.
“Before I left home, I saw one of the greatest Chinese economic news growing by four to 4.6 per cent or thereabouts. We are on the right trajectory. We are in good company. The economy is growing steadily. You will have a future, a future to believe in.”
The President added, “Nigeria must win this election before any candidate does. You are not campaigning for me.
“You are campaigning for your own future, and that future is renewed hope.
“There’s nothing that will push us back.”
Tinubu said the past three years had not been easy and that his administration “took hard decisions.”
He described the condition in which he took over, stating that, “We owed money to airlines. They were almost cutting their flights to Nigeria. Our foreign reserve was nothing. We printed currencies as if there was no tomorrow.”
He said that rather than dwell on the flaws of the past, he chose to assume the responsibility and liability of his predecessor.
“We understood that a nation cannot borrow its way to greatness,” Tinubu said, adding that many people had predicted that young Nigerians would turn their backs on the reforms.
“They were wrong. You are here,” he said.
Turning to the January 16, 2027 presidential election, the President told the youths to take the message to their campuses, markets and villages.
“Make sure every young person you know has a PVC and use it. Tell them what we have done, and tell them what we will do. Campaign with your ideas.
“You are not campaigning for me. You are campaigning for your own future, and that future is renewed hope,” he stated.
On the Students Loan Act, which he signed in 2023, he said he also had no regrets, adding, “Today, more than a million students have been supported through NELFund.”
Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy when he took office on May 29, 2023.
The pump price rose from about N180 per litre to about N620 after the announcement, and to about N1,200 roughly a year later.
Atiku, on August 20, in an English rendering of a Hausa-language interview, said, “If elected, I will bring back the oil subsidy.”
He, however, proposed a capped, audited production subsidy tied to domestic refining, saying his proposal is not to resurrect the old subsidy regime.
The Presidency called the proposal a return to a “wasteful, corruption-ridden and financially burdensome” system.
At the event, Tinubu assured the City Boy Movement, especially the youth who had stood with him, that they would not be left behind.
“The future of this country does not belong to me, and it does not belong to my generation. It belongs to you.
“I am very proud, once again, that when I signed the Student Loan Act, I had no regrets.
“Today, more than a million students have been supported through NELFUND,” Tinubu stated.
On his son, Seyi, he said: “He is running after his father. Your young colleagues would have seen that you are investing your time effectively. We are with you. Thank you. You did it humbly.
“You did not ask for a title or an office. You went to the young people, your age mates, your group. You listened to them and organised them.
“I am proud of all of you. But I will tell you what every father tells a son: you have only started. Do more, not less. Serve harder. Set an example that your own children, my grandchildren, will be proud to follow.”
Speaking earlier, Vice President Kashim Shettima said Nigeria’s economy would have collapsed had Tinubu not taken what he called far-reaching decisions.
He said, but for the tough decisions, critics would by now be writing epistles on a collapsed economy from the comfort of their homes in Dubai and New York
The Vice President credited the President’s decisions for the economy’s recovery.
He said, “The President took those far-reaching decisions. He had the courage of conviction and the knowledge to take those far-reaching decisions that repositioned the Nigerian economy, so that now the economy grew by 4.43 per cent in the last quarter.
“Most importantly, our foreign reserves are now hovering at the level of $60bn.
“Remember how far we have come. It’s only those who have been in the deepest valley that will appreciate how magnificent it is to be on a mountain top.”
To the critics of the administration, Shettima said, “The same people who are crying wolf. If the President had not taken those far-reaching decisions, Walahi, I am not talking to you as a politician. I am talking to you as a Nigerian, our economy would have collapsed.
“These people, by now, would be writing epistles on a collapsed economy from the comfort of their homes in Dubai, in New York, or in marriage with their young Moroccan wives.
“I have not mentioned anybody’s name.”
He admitted that Nigerians had endured hardship, but said it could have been worse.
“Your Excellency, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, the President has to be commended, not demonised.
“Yes, Nigerians have gone through some tough times, but it could have been worse.
“Be reassured that in the coming weeks, the President will come up with robust responses to agricultural challenges, and prices of foodstuffs will certainly come down,” he stated.
The Vice President said efforts were being made to reposition the economy, citing the Nigerian Education Loan Fund and investments in infrastructure. He then asked the youth to carry the message to the streets.
“I urge the youth of Nigeria. I beseech thee. I implore you to go out to the streets and tell the truth to other Nigerians,” he stated.
At the inauguration of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council on October 14, Shettima mocked the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, and the former Anambra State governor, Peter Obi, over their economic proposals.