‘We Could Not Even Raise The Issue’ – Gov AbdulRazaq Recounts Tense Dinner With Tinubu After Subsidy Removal

Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) chairman, AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq has disclosed that governors were worried about widespread riot after the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023.

“All states have deployed security agencies and have emergency meetings of the security council,” he said.

But there wasn’t a single protest, he said, contrary to expectations.

It was learnt that the Kwara State governor disclosed this during a meeting with President Bola Tinubu and other state governors on Friday at Tinubu’s residence in Lagos.

The governors first heard about the subsidy removal via calls from the National Security Adviser and the Director-General of the Department of State Services while they were on a trip to China, with both officials saying there was no going back, he said.

“We got into a panic. “I sent a message to my colleagues at the NGF and nobody wanted to hear that,” he said.

Those present in China including Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Kaduna State Governor met and agreed to seek a meeting with Tinubu to argue against the policy, he said.

We met and asked, How could this be done? It could not be done. There were phone calls here and there to Nigeria. So we decided to book for an appointment to see Mr President and let him know that this can’t work,” Abdulrazaq said.

Then the dinner that followed didn’t go as planned.

“Mr President invited us to dinner and we went. We sat down, listened to his vision for Nigeria and couldn’t even bring up the topic at the end of day.

“We didn’t know if he had got security reports on why we were coming for dinner, but we couldn’t raise the issue,” he said.

Abdulrazaq said states had as little as ₦100m to ₦200m left with after paying salaries from their FAAC allocations, which was barely enough to build one kilometre of road, to go into bonds and loans to fund infrastructure.

“Today, states don’t need to borrow money or issue bonds. In fact we are lowering our debt burden. “Delta State has cleared its debt. We have reduced our debt by 40 per cent,” he said.

He also cited the minimum wage increase as another benefit and urged Tinubu to collaborate with the governors to increase it to ₦100,000.

“Minimum wage has increased and most states are now paying close to ₦100,000. “I want to appeal to Your Excellency to have a discussion on the minimum wage to a minimum of ₦100,000,” Abdulrazaq said.