Why FG cannot remove fuel subsidy now – Lai Mohammed
Nigeria’s Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed has said it is the wrong time to remove fuel subsidy.
Mohammed said this on a Monday in an interview with Reuters.
The federal government had postponed the planned petrol subsidy removal till further notice, citing “high inflation and economic hardship”.
The Minister explained that many other countries had introduced measures to help citizens cope with high oil energy prices due to the Russia-Ukraine war.
“When you consider the chaos, the social disharmony and… instability such an action (of abolishing subsidies) would facilitate, is it worth it? I don’t think so,” Mohammed said.
Among other issues, petrol subsidy payments have dwindled revenue accrued to states, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) making zero remittances to the federation account.
In the last five months, NNPC has expended N1.27 trillion on petrol subsidy — about 31 percent of the N4 trillion provision for the year.
Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, had said petrol subsidy was “hurting the nation” and limiting the federal government’s ability to service debt.