We expected riots, NGF chairman recalls anxiety over Tinubu’s subsidy removal

The chairman of the Nigeria Governors Forum, AbdulRahman Abdulrazaq, has revealed that governors deployed security agencies across all states and convened emergency security council meetings ahead of the 2023 fuel subsidy removal, convinced that the policy would trigger widespread riots but not a single protest occurred.

Abdulrazaq, who is also the Kwara State governor, made the disclosure during a meeting with President Bola Tinubu and other state governors on Friday, at Tinubu’s residence in Lagos.

He said governors first learnt of the subsidy removal through calls from the National Security Adviser and the Director-General of the Department of State Services while on a trip to China, with both officials stating there was no going back.

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

He added that those present in China, including Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the Kaduna State Governor, met and resolved to seek a meeting with Tinubu to argue against the policy.

“We met and asked: how can this be implemented? It was impossible. There were phone calls back and forth to Nigeria, so we decided to book an appointment to see Mr. President and let him know that this could not work,” Abdulrazaq said.

The dinner that followed, however, did not go as planned.

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

“We did not know whether he had gotten security reports about why we were coming for dinner, but we could not raise the issue,” he said.

The governors returned to their rooms resolved to implement the policy and immediately began preparing for the worst.

“We advised each other to convene State Security Council meetings because we were expecting serious riots, there had been riots over bad governance even before then, and over lesser issues.

“Everybody was told to secure their state. And on that day, nothing happened. There were no riots, there were no protests anywhere,” Abdulrazaq said.

He attributed the calm to public shock at the boldness of the decision.

“I think the nation was shocked by the audacity of Mr. President to implement that serious policy,” he said.

On the fiscal impact, Abdulrazaq said states had previously been left with as little as N100m to N200m after paying salaries from their FAAC allocations, barely enough to build one kilometre of road, forcing them into bonds and loans to fund infrastructure.

“Today, states no longer need to borrow money or issue bonds. In fact, we are reducing our debt burden. Delta State has retired its debt, and we have reduced our debt by 40 per cent,” he said.

He also cited the minimum wage increase as a further benefit and urged Tinubu to work with governors toward raising it to N100,000.

“Minimum wage has gone up, and most states are today paying close to N100,000. I urge Your Excellency to have a discussion on moving the minimum wage to a minimum of N100,000,” Abdulrazaq said.