- Safiu Kehinde
Former Katsina State Governor, Aminu Masari, has admitted to the urgency of President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy, stressing that Nigerians were not fully prepared for the aftermath of the directive.
Masari made this known during his address at the 2025 annual conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers of Nigeria (GOCOP) held in Lagos on Wednesday.
Speaking on the theme “Reconciling Campaign Promises with Governance Realities: Challenges and Prospects”, the ex-Katsina state governor highlighted reasons behind politicians’ inability to fulfill campaign promises.
Masari identified short electoral cycle as one of the reasons which also included corruption, bureaucracy, and inefficiency amongst others.
Using the fuel subsidy removal as an example, he described the subsidy removal as a long-term reform which was hurriedly faulted due to Nigerians expectation of quick resolutions of challenges on account of the country’s short electoral cycle.
“Even when funds are available, corruption, bureaucracy, and inefficiency can drain delivery.
“The pressure of short electoral cycle where leaders are pushed to quick results often at the expense of long-term reforms and the gap widens further.
“Let me illustrate with a familiar example of recent years. Nigeria embarked on a bold decision with the removal of fuel subsidy.
“The policy was designed to free up resources for critical development projects and to place our economy on a more sustainable path. In principle, this was necessary and forward-looking.
“However, it came with immediate adjustment. Transport goes up, food prices increase.
“It is now the implementation that the pains are being fully felt.
“Unfortunately for many citizens, the long-term discomfort is viewed as broken promises. Across the continent. we see similar patterns.” He said.
The Chairman of the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) Board further cited physical constraints and unforeseen emergencies as another reasons, using the using the 2019 drop in oil price at global market and COVID-19 pandemic as examples.