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A former Minister of State for Education, Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, has said ex-President Muhammadu Buhari deliberately retained the petrol subsidy during his tenure to prevent widespread hardship and loss of life among Nigerians.
Nwajiuba said this while appearing on ARISE Television, where he defended Buhari’s economic decisions and overall governance.
According to him, despite global economic turbulence, the Buhari administration managed to maintain relative stability in key areas.
“The former president held the subsidy so that Nigerians won’t die,” he said.
He added that “The number of deaths in the last two years alone has exceeded the number that voted from people dying from fuel tanker accidents, or just trying to survive.
“He knew this, and even told the BBC that he wanted to protect Nigerians ahead of other considerations”.
The former minister also pointed to macroeconomic data under Buhari’s government, describing it as a period that witnessed resilience amid crises.
“This is an economy that recovered from recession twice and survived the COVID-19 pandemic. We held the naira at under N500 to the dollar by the time he left. He did exceedingly well in economic terms,” he asserted.
Nwajiuba further cited figures from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), that acknowledged the shut down of at least 183 companies over the last two years alone.
He said this was in contrast to the “relative stability during Buhari’s administration”.
Sectors such as mining, non-oil exports, and oil production, he stated, saw remarkable improvements, with specific mention of policies around condensate production and export strategies.
“Everything we did in mining, improvements in non-oil exports and oil sector reforms were documented.
“The numbers are there to show. Buhari may not have known everything, but his efforts were deliberate and impactful,” Nwajiuba submitted.
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