A former president of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Peter Esele, has called on Nigerians to adopt a wait-and-see attitude toward President Bola Tinubu’s government over his infamous declaration signalling the end of fuel subsidy in Nigeria.

Tinubu, in his inaugural speech after he was sworn in as the 16th president of Nigeria, had declared that “fuel subsidy is gone.”

After that declaration, Africa’s most populous nation has been sent reeling, with the petrol pump price skyrocketing to N1,200 amid fuel scarcity and long and rambunctious queues.

But Mr Esele urged Nigerians to give the president the benefit of the doubt.

“Already queues are building up, and hoarding is taking place. People are hoarding, but let’s see if probably he has all the plans, all the whole thing worked out,” said the former labour leader. “And let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and see how he is going to go about and implement it.”

Mr Esele added, “Probably, he will do something big. Probably he is coming to do something different. So I would rather we adopt a wait-and-see attitude instead of criticising.”

The former TUC leader explained that Mr Tinubu already declared that “subsidy is going, and actually there is no budget for subsidy.”

“That’s what he said,” Mr Esele stressed. “But we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt.”

(NAN)