Fuel Subsidy Removal Painfully Necessary – Minister

Amid dissenting views on the performance of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) government, the minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris, has said the removal of fuel subsidy was painful but necessary.

He spoke yesterday at the conference of commissioners of Information from APC -controlled states at Guidel Hotel Minna.

The minister said, “One of the boldest and most consequential decisions of this administration, which is the removal of the fuel subsidy, was a painful but necessary reform.

“Beyond saving the economy from fiscal collapse, this decision has significantly blocked areas of leakage and waste in our economy, thereby leading to an increase in funding for the development of mega infrastructures,” he added.

He claimed that the removal of fuel subsidy has increased funding for infrastructures such as the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Superhighway, Sokoto-Badagry Superhighway, Calabar-Abuja Super Highway, Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Railway, Abuja-Kaduna-Kano Expressway, among others .

In his opening remark the governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umaru Bago, said the theme of the conference “Strategic Communication and Policy Alignment” was timely and instructive.

He said “In our present context, governance is not only measured by policies enacted or infrastructures built, but by how effectively those actions are conveyed to the people we serve.”

The governor represented by the secretary to the state government, Abubakar Usman, submitted that  citizens must understand the intent behind the APC government’s  reforms, believe in the process, and trust the hands driving the change.