Fear of massive nationwide protests, probably worse than the #EndSARS protests led to President Muhammadu Buhari dropping the planned full removal of fuel subsidy.
The PUNCH reports that intelligence presented to the President by security officials warned that the protests that would have accompanied the subsidy removal might have been bigger than the #EndSARS demonstrations against police brutality that engulfed different states in the country in 2020.
According to the paper, the top security heads warned President Buhari that Nigeria had to be weary of evil wind of coups sweeping across Africa, as most of these takeovers were fueled by citizen’s discontent. This as the President was told that the protests that may erupt with fuel price increase will be ten times worse that the massively supported #EndSARS protest.
“The police, DSS, the National Intelligence Agency and the Office of the National Security Adviser usually send security reports to the President on the impact of sensitive issues like fuel subsidy. Reports given to the President showed that the protests being planned by unions would have been 10 times bigger than the #EndSARS protests.
“Petrol price was projected to increase to about N350 if the international price of oil continues to rise. This would have increased the cost of everything and encouraged everyone to take to the streets.
“They also drew the President’s attention to the coups sweeping many African countries and how the protests could have been hijacked by the opposition. This was why the President not only delayed subsidy removal but transferred the responsibility to the next government”, the paper quoted the source as saying.
“Some ministers actually advised the President to go ahead with subsidy removal because of the potential investments that deregulation would bring. But the President could not have taken such advice. The country is currently facing insecurity in several states, people are hungry. Outright removal of subsidy would have led to a rise in the cost of goods and protests. The alternative given to the President is to increase fuel price slightly. This could be done gradually by adding N3 or N5 periodically,” the paper’s source added.
Punch reports that presidential spokesman, Garba Shehu declined comment.
Be the first to comment