The Presidency has accused Nigerians of suffering from a collective amnesia regarding the economic challenges that predate the Bola Tinubu administration, asserting that the public is too quick to forget the conditions under which the current government assumed office.
This assertion was made by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to President Bola Tinubu, during an interview on Arise Television on Saturday morning.
“Many Nigerians, we sometimes exhibit the problem of lack of memory. We have very short memory, we forget where we started from and we just start blaming President Tinubu for all the problems that Nigeria is going through,” Onanuga said.
He emphasized that the issues currently confronting the nation did not begin with President Tinubu, recalling that Nigeria was already grappling with a fuel shortage as of May 2023, when Tinubu took over the reins of power.
“All through the election period in 2023, there was fuel shortage. So when the President announced on day one that he was removing fuel subsidy, the immediate response from the NNPC — which is the major supplier of fuel — was to increase the pump price because it could no longer absorb the cost,” he explained.
According to Onanuga, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) was under financial strain, with the federal government reportedly owing it over ₦4 trillion and the company struggling to pay foreign suppliers. He credited the President with reviving the NNPC’s fuel importation operations in order to stabilize fuel supply across the country.
“There was no way Nigeria could have sustained the regime of fuel subsidy. The resources simply aren’t there. We were spending money that should belong to future generations. The President did the right thing by ending it,” Onanuga asserted.
While acknowledging the severe hardships and economic pains that followed the subsidy removal, he defended the administration’s handling of the situation, noting that it has never denied the realities Nigerians are facing.
“This government has been honest in admitting the fallout of removing fuel subsidy and has been taking several measures to ease the burden on citizens,” he said.
The comments come amid growing public discontent over inflation, high transportation costs, and worsening living conditions — issues many blame directly on the fuel subsidy removal and subsequent economic reforms. The Presidency, however, continues to urge patience, insisting that the administration’s policies are designed for long-term stability.
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