Government will continue to dialogue with you until you see reasons why subsidy must go – Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan has insisted that there is no going back on total subsidy removal. However, he said the government would continue to dialogue with Nigerians, to make them reason with the government on why the proposed removal is necessary.

The president made this known during the Nigeria Summit 2013, organised by The Economist, in Lagos, on Tuesday. He said it did not make economic sense to continue to waste resources meant for greater number of Nigerians to subsidise the rich in the society, stressing that his government would continue to enlighten Nigerians on the need to remove the subsidy.

In the words of the president: “We cannot continue to waste resources meant for a greater number of Nigerians to subsidise the affluent middle class, who are the main beneficiaries.”

Recall that the announcement of partial removal of the subsidy on January 1, 2012 led to a week-long strike and civil unrest.