The Tinubu Media Support Group (TMSG) said the Federal Government’s recently announced fuel price cap and other relief measures align with moves by more than 115 countries worldwide to pragmatically mitigate the effects of the Middle East crisis on their citizens.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Emeka Nwankpa and Secretary Dapo Okubanjo, the group noted that the move showed that the administration was in tune with the global reality of the current cost of living crisis.
It said: “We are aware that over 115 countries have moved fast in recent weeks to introduce measures to cushion the effects of the Middle East conflict on fuel prices, towards alleviating anticipated hardship on the people across the world.
“So we are not surprised that the Nigerian government announced several measures, including a month-long fuel discount as well as a wider fuel price cap that is subject to monthly review.
“Some of the countries which have toed a similar path of introducing fuel price caps and discounts are Germany, Spain, Greece, India, Pakistan, Australia, Mozambique and Kenya.
“Even the US, which is central to the regional tensions in the Gulf, is working on a series of measures to bring down fuel prices locally even as it continues to negotiate an end to the crisis.
“While some opposition figures have sought to capitalise on the development by terming it as the return of fuel subsidy, which they had vowed to restore if elected president, we dare say that the measures are just temporary reliefs to mitigate the effects of the ongoing conflict.”
The group also lashed out at politicians who hailed similar efforts in other countries but opted to raise dust over the Tinubu administration’s relief measures
“It beggars belief that one of those deriding the move and calling it a pre-election gimmick, Atiku Abubakar, the Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (ADC), praised Germany a few days ago over a 90-day 17-cent per litre discount.
“But what the Nigerian government announced is of a larger scale than Germany’s 90-day, 17-cent discount or even a marginal price cap; it also includes increased funding for cash transfers to the most vulnerable households, subsidised credit for small businesses and consumers and a faster deployment of CNG buses and infrastructure investments in conjunction with states.
“Others are an excess profit tax targeted at those found to have been involved in price gouging, as well as an enhanced tax relief for low-income earners under the 2027 Finance Bill.
“And to guard against future disruptions in global crude supplies, the government is committing to investing in a National Strategic Fuel Reserve to release refined products into the market to help reduce price volatility without fixing prices or reintroducing fuel subsidy.
“While we understand the need for politicians to play politics by focusing on a single line item, we are convinced that what the government is doing with the fuel discount and price modulation does not amount to the return of fuel subsidy”, it said.
TMSG maintained that the moves by the federal government did not by any means translate into a return to fuel subsidy.
“As the Finance Minister, Taiwo Oyedele has emphasised, a marginal discount for a short period borne by a retailer does not amount to a return of fuel subsidy in any guise.
“In this case, the government is not dipping into public coffers or the federation account to pay part of what a motorist would ordinarily be paying at a filling station, and neither is the discount to be funded from the federal budget. The same goes for the price ceiling the government is negotiating with refineries and importers.
“We urge Nigerians to see the measures in the light of what other countries are doing to provide temporary relief to their citizens pending the return to normalcy in the Middle East, the statement said.
