VICE President Kashim Shettima has revealed that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deliberately kept his decision to remove the petrol subsidy a closely guarded secret, excluding it from his written inaugural speech to prevent attempts to dissuade him from implementing the policy.
News Point Nigeria reports that Shettima made the disclosure on Friday during a high-profile courtesy visit by state governors to the President’s private residence in Lagos as part of activities marking the Eid el-Kabir celebrations and the third anniversary of the administration.
Addressing the gathering, the Vice President said the subsidy removal was not a spontaneous decision but one that Tinubu had carefully considered long before assuming office.
“Your Excellency, the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy, you kept it a top secret; it wasn’t part of your speech,” Shettima said.
“It wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision. You had made that decision and kept it close to your heart because you believed if you had incorporated it into your speech, some people would try to persuade you not to do so.”
Shettima described the move as a demonstration of what he called “the courage of leadership,” “the audacity of hope,” and “the effrontery to see into the future.”
Defending the economic reforms introduced by the administration over the last three years, the Vice President argued that Tinubu inherited a structurally challenged nation that required far-reaching corrective measures.
According to him, the President assumed office at a time when Nigeria faced difficult choices and could no longer continue with policies that merely postponed fundamental solutions.
“You did not come to power at the season of ease. You came at a time when the house required more than a painter. It required a builder with the courage to examine the foundation. You inherited a nation standing before difficult questions, a nation trapped between the comfort of old illusions and the necessity of a new beginning,” he said.
“In that defining hour, you chose not to postpone the surgery. You chose not to massage the wound.
“You chose to confront the contradictions that have held this country hostage for 50 years. That, Mr President, is the miracle of your courage. What you have done is not simply to administer a government. You have begun the difficult work of re-engineering a nation.
“It is not a banquet. It is a battlefield. It is not a picnic for the faint-hearted. It is a covenant with the future.”
According to a report by PUNCH, President Tinubu also defended the decision to remove the fuel subsidy, maintaining that the policy saved Nigeria from imminent bankruptcy and helped place the country on a path of economic recovery.
The President said the difficult reform measures undertaken by his administration were beginning to produce visible benefits for states and citizens across the country.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Progressive Governors’ Forum and Governor of Imo State, Hope Uzodimma, reportedly told the gathering that governors had assessed Tinubu’s performance and awarded him a score of 100 per cent.
Uzodimma said the President had successfully “recovered Nigeria from the road of collapse to that of stability and survival,” while commending the administration’s efforts at addressing the country’s economic challenges and laying the foundation for long-term growth.