File photo of Azu Ishiekwene in a handshake with President Bola Tinubu at the State House in Abuja
Azubuike Ishiekwene, a veteran journalist, says President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves commendation for tackling corruption in Nigeria’s oil industry with the petrol subsidy removal.
Speaking on Saturday during an interview with Rudolf Okonkwo on 90MinutesAfrica, Ishiekwene said many Nigerians agreed that Tinubu has “so far done certain things that governments since 1976 have not been able to, especially as it concerns corruption around the oil economy.”
On May 29, 2023, Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy at his inauguration.
The policy has resulted in one of the worst inflations the country has ever witnessed, leading to a decline in the standard of living of Nigerians.
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Ishiekwene acknowledged the tough economic situation caused by the subsidy removal but said it was necessary.
“Though Nigerians are hurting from that policy decision, I think we have kicked the can down the road for too many decades, and it is now taking a man of significant courage to finally deal with that,” he said.
Ishiekwene, who is also the editor-in-chief of the Leadership Newspapers and author of “Writing for Media and Monetizing It,” added that there are still some “inefficiencies” in the operations of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that need to be fixed.
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He added that the inefficiencies in the NNPCL are the cause of over N7 trillion petrol subsidy still owed by Nigeria.
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