By Ade Oyeyemi
The Director-General of BTO 4PBAT, Adesuyi Adojutelegan, has defended President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the petrol subsidy, arguing that reversing the policy could plunge Nigeria into another period of economic uncertainty.
Adojutelegan made the remarks in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State during a grassroots mobilisation campaign aimed at securing support for Tinubu’s re-election.
The campaign group, sponsored by the Minister of Interior, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, said Nigerians should not return to the era of prolonged queues at filling stations and fuel scarcity associated with the subsidy regime.
According to Adojutelegan, opposition to the policy is largely driven by political interests rather than a proper understanding of its economic implications.
“Those who are calling for its return are doing so out of complete ignorance and lack of understanding. They are playing politics with it in order to score cheap political points,” he said.
He maintained that retaining the subsidy would have worsened the country’s economic difficulties, claiming that the policy had placed significant pressure on public finances and left some state governments struggling to pay workers’ salaries.
“If the subsidy was not removed, Nigeria would have been in a serious crisis. Before it was removed, many states could not pay salaries,” Adojutelegan said.
The BTO 4PBAT director-general also expressed optimism that Ondo residents would support Tinubu’s re-election, citing what he described as the administration’s achievements in infrastructure, education, healthcare and public finance.
He said the unit-to-unit campaign was designed to take the administration’s policies and programmes directly to residents at the grassroots level.
“The unit-to-unit campaign was initiated to ensure that we pass the message to the people at the grassroots. We saw the need to bring his achievements to the public square,” he added.
Adojutelegan listed road construction, the student loan scheme, increased revenue allocations to state governments and developments in the health sector among the areas in which he said the administration had made progress.
He stated that road projects were ongoing in different parts of the country and that students in tertiary institutions were benefiting from the government’s loan programme.
He further argued that increased allocations to state governments had provided additional resources for governance and service delivery, while efforts were also being made to improve healthcare.
Adojutelegan said the grassroots mobilisation exercise would continue to inform residents about the administration’s policies and achievements as the group seeks to build support for Tinubu’s re-election.
