President Bola Tinubu

Nigerians nursing the hope that of  federal government reversing its decision on fuel subsidy removal, had such hope dashed on Tuesday, as President Bola Tinubu insisted he had no regrets taking the action as at the time he did.

The President, who stated this at his  maiden Media Chat, on Monday, argued that  fuel subsidy removal became imperative when he resumed office, since it was obvious that Nigerians were not the only ones enjoying such privilege.

According to him, petroleum products were also being smuggled out of Nigeria, to neighbouring countries; thereby depriving Nigerians of the privilege that should be exclusive to them, and, in consequence, denying the country of the needed revenue for growth.

“I had to take that decision because it was obvious that these products were being taken to neighbouring countries. Unfortunately, we can not continue to play  Father Christmas to these neighbouring countries to the detriment of the nation’s economy,” he stated.

Tinibu also believed fuel subsidy removal had also taught Nigerians some lessons on how to manage the little resources at their disposal.

” I saw a friend who has five limos, but no longer drives them noe. He moves around with a low fuel consumption vehicle nowadays. That means the fuel subsidy removal is also teaching us how to manage our resources,” he added.

The President, who insisted his government had made some headway, since assuming office, about 18 months ago, noted that for the past few months, the government had not taken any fund from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), as was the practice in the past.

“Besides, we’ve been able to deal with the issue of Ways and Means, which are signs that we are making a headway, and which I will give our administration a pass mark,” he stated.

On whether there were plans to reduce the size of his cabinet, considered bloated by many Nigerians, the President argued that what Nigerians should be concerned about was the performance of such cabinet.

“Show me anyone that is not living up to expectation in the cabinet. I think what we should be talking about is how well, members of the cabinet are discharging their duties. I’m not ready to reduce the size of the cabinet because if you want to serve over 200 million Nigerians, you can imagine the number of stewards that will be needed to effectively do this,” he added.

President Tinubu also reiterated his administration’s commitment to eradicating banditry in the coming year, and enhance food production in the country.

He added that over 2,000 tractors would  soon be brought into the country to enhance farmers’ capacity, ‘since agriculture can no longer be done the way my grandfather was doing it then.’