Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, former Minister of State for Education, has said that late former President Muhammadu Buhari retained petrol subsidy during his administration to protect the lives and welfare of Nigerians.
Gatekeepers News reports that Nwajiuba defended Buhari’s economic decisions during an interview on Arise TV on Monday.
According to him, Buhari priorised the citizens’ safety over economic pressures, adding that his eight-year tenure brought significant development to the country, even in the face of major global and domestic challenges.
He said, “All the figures from every known publication in the eight years are clear. This is an economy that recovered from recession twice. This is an economy that ran into COVID.”
“This is an economy that he did exceedingly well in economic terms. We held the dollar at the exchange rate… we held it at the time he left, at less than N500. He held subsidy so that Nigerians won’t die.”
He cited incidents such as fuel tanker explosions and accidents during holiday periods, noting that in the past two years, deaths from such incidents have surpassed voter turnout in some regions.
The former minister said, “The number of deaths in the last two years alone has exceeded the number that voted. I mean, just from tankers falling and people being burnt, people going for Christmas gifts, people going to look for food, and they die from it.”
“He knew, and he granted an interview to BBC why he wanted to defend Nigerians ahead of others.”
Nwajiuba also pointed to data from the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), which reported the shutdown of 183 companies in the last two years. He contrasted this with what he described as greater economic stability during Buhari’s time in office.
He credited Buhari’s administration with achievements in sectors like mining, non-oil exports, and oil production.
Nwajiuba said, “He did this work, and the numbers are there to show.”
“Everything we did in mining, the improvements in non-oil exports, improvements in oil exports, the idea behind condensates, everything that we did in government, are all articulated.”
While acknowledging that Buhari was not perfect and did not know everything, Nwajiuba maintained that his accomplishments were substantial.
