“There Was No Provision for The Payment of Subsidy on The Day That Tinubu Was Sworn in” – Baba Ahmed

The National Chairman of the People’s Redemption Party (PRP), Hakeem Baba Ahmed, has acknowledged that President Bola Tinubu inherited a federal budget that contained no provision for fuel subsidy payments when he assumed office.

Baba Ahmed made the remarks while speaking on Trust TV, where he offered some context to Tinubu’s decision to announce the removal of the subsidy during his inauguration speech.

According to him, the 2023 budget prepared under former President Muhammadu Buhari had already been structured without funding for fuel subsidy. He said this meant the new administration faced a situation in which there was no budgetary allocation available to continue the payments after Tinubu took office.

Baba Ahmed suggested that Tinubu may have recognised the situation and decided to address it immediately rather than delay the issue. He described the president’s decision as courageous, although he questioned the way Tinubu handled the announcement.

The PRP chairman argued that Tinubu could have allowed the previous administration to bear responsibility for the difficult policy by explaining to the National Assembly that Buhari had left no financial provision for subsidy payments.

He added that the government could also have made it clear that borrowing money to maintain the subsidy was not a sustainable option. In his view, such an approach would have reduced the extent to which Tinubu personally became associated with the hardship caused by the policy.