Worried about resurfaced long queues in petrol stations nationwide following the declaration by the newly elected President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his inaugural address that fuel subsidy would be discontinued by the new administration, the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Media Centre has stated that the planned fiscal measure will not be implemented until the end of June this year.
The inaugural address declaration by President Tinubu on the fuel subsidy regime has triggered serious panic and chaos in the petroleum downstream subsector since Monday as motorists continued to scramble for last minute purchase of petrol at the old subsidized pump price.
The media group, in a statement issued on Tuesday, maintained that the panic buying, which is the result of the declaration, was “needless as it will not take immediate effect until the end of June.
It clarified: “The public is advised to note that President Bola Tinubu’s declaration that “subsidy is gone” is neither a new development nor an action of his new administration.
“He was merely communicating the status quo, considering that the previous administration’s budget for fuel subsidy was planned and approved to last for only the first half of the year.
“Effectively, this means that by the end of June, the Federal Government will be without funds to continue the subsidy regime, translating to its termination”, the Centre added.
According to the media and information affiliate of the President, the panic-buying that has ensued as a result of the communication is needless as the fuel subsidy removal will not take immediate effect.
In addition, the Centre stressed that President Tinubu was clear about his plans to re-channel the funds previously devoted to the payment of subsidies into better investments that will cushion the effects of the removal on the general public, especially the poor.
Meanwhile, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, had said that the potential changes to petrol price was not enough reason for Nigerians to engage in panic buying of the commodity.
He promised that the company had enough fuel in depots to ensure sufficient supply of petrol and was monitoring all its distribution networks to comply with the distribution directives.
Kyari said: “We would like to assure Nigerians that we have sufficient supply of petroleum products, particularly PMS in our country and there is no reason to panic. We understand that people will be scared of potential changes to the price of petrol.
“But that is not enough for people to rush to fuel stations to buy more than what they need. We are watching all the distribution networks, and support facilities and we believe that normalcy will be restored very soon”, he added.
