President Bola Tinubu says he has no regrets removing petrol subsidy despite the painful aftermath, insisting that the state of security in the country has improved under his watch.

He says the improvement has seen a surge in the frequency and number of people travelling by road.

“It is very unfortunate that we have had wanton killings in the past. I remember when I jumped into the campaign. I had to stop the campaign to pay condolence visits in Katsina, Kaduna, and others.

“Today, you can still travel by road. Before now, it was impossible.

“It takes one incident to mess up an organised environment. You cannot say the military was not prepared when the brigade battalion was attacked.

“You can’t laugh at your nation because of that; the enemies within and without are watching what you are doing,” he said in his maiden Presidential Media chat held in Lagos, Monday.

President Bola Tinubu says he has no regrets about removing petrol subsidy in May 2023, insisting that Nigeria cannot continue to be Father Christmas to neighbouring countries.

“I don’t have any regrets whatsoever in removing petrol subsidy. We are spending our future, we were just deceiving ourselves, that reform was necessary.”

Tinubu said petrol subsidy removal some 18 months ago have increased competition within the sector and that the pump price of petrol has gradually crashed. “The market is being saturated. No monopoly, no oligopoly, a free market economy flowing,” he said.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain also said he does not believe in price control . “I don’t believe in price control, we will work hard to supply the market,” he said.