No going back on fuel subsidy removal —Buhari

President Muhammadu Buhari said on Monday the Federal Government would not go back on its decision to remove fuel subsidy.

The president, who stated this while declaring open a two-day First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja, added that there would be negative consequences if the government continued with the business of fixing or subsidising the prices of petrol.

Represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Buhari said the COVID-19 pandemic had led to a severe downturn in the funds available to finance the nation’s budget and severely hampered the government’s capacity.

He added that one of the steps the government took at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March was the deregulation of the product.

President Buhari said the government was extremely mindful of the pains that higher products prices brought on the people.

He stressed that government did not take the sacrifices that all Nigerians had to make for granted.

The president said: “There are several negative consequences if the government should even attempt to go back to the business of fixing or subsidising PMS prices.