‘Where is the money saved?’ — TUC asks FG to account for subsidy removal gains

Festus Osifo, the president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), says the federal government has questions to answer as regards the gains of subsidy removal.

President Bola Tinubu had announced the removal of petrol subsidy during his inaugural speech on May 29, 2023.

Following the speech, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) raised petrol price from N189 per litre to N568 per litre. 

With NNPC spending N4.39 trillion ($9.7 billion) on petrol subsidy in 2022, Tinubu said removing the subsidy on premium motor spirit (PMS) would reduce expenses and help the government to save more from revenue generated. 

Speaking on the matter during an interview on AriseTV on Wednesday, Osifo asked where the money saved since the subsidy removal is.

He said since the government announced that N1 trillion has been saved, there is no reason to continue borrowing money, adding that FG should simply deploy part of the funds on Nigerians. 

“The president and commander-in-chief on his own came and said the country has saved N1 trillion. The federal government went everywhere to announce that if subsidy is removed, it’s going to save substantial money,” Osifo said. 

“And so, we don’t expect them to go everywhere and start borrowing money. They told us they are going to save money. So where is the money that you have saved and how have they deployed this money?” 

Osifo’s comment comes a day after TUC and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) announced that the unions will embark on an indefinite strike on October 3, 2023.

He said the unions have exhausted their arsenals and have been left with no choice but to proceed on the indefinite strike next month.