Tinubu spent ₦8trn so far on petrol subsidy – El-Rufai�

Nasir El-Rufai, former governor of Kaduna State, who played a pivotal role in the emergence of Bola Tinubu, now president, as the flag bearer of the ruling All Progressives Congress, has revealed that the government had so far spent a whopping ₦8 trillion on petrol subsidy.

The revelation contradicts Tinubu’s inaugural speech announcing the removal of petrol subsidy. The administration has also consistently maintained that it was raking in more money that hitherto would have gone to subsidising petrol.

El-Rufai made the comment while giving a speech at a workshop in Maiduguri on the topic ‘Enhancing Skills of Government Officials in Policy Implementation and Productive Human Management Resources’.

The workshop was organised by the Borno State Government for Commissioners, Chief Advisers and Special Advisers, Senior Technical Advisers, Heads or Chief Executives of Agencies and Departments, Tertiary Institutions and local government chairmen.

“The Federal Government under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu has from day one been subsidizing petrol, also known as Premium Motor Spirit, PMS. This has so far cost the present administration about N8trillion since inception on May 29th, 2023 to date,” he said.

In a subtle assessment of President Tinubu’s handling of his cabinet, El-Rufai said, “A good leader must be decisive and have the ability to make good decisions, be trustworthy, empower others irrespective of political, religious or ethnic considerations, have clear communication skills and resilient in all ramifications.”

He added, “Though it is too early to judge the present administration, it has been in government for only nine months. Leadership is work in progress. You start a policy because you are sure it is the right policy.

“But in the course of implementation, if you see bottlenecks, you modify, because the keyword in leadership is not ideology or anything, it is pragmatism.

“You are not God, only God is perfect. As a good leader when you make a policy and you start implementing, and it does not seem to work well, you should have the humility to stand back and say this is not working.

“For example, if you appoint a person to a position and he is not performing to expectation, you should have the humility to say look, I need a better person to do the job perfectly. Leadership is a continuous thing and in a term of four years, you can’t assess a government of nine months.”