27th April, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday agreed that the removal of fuel subsidy be suspended by the Federal Government for now.
Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this to newsmen after the NEC meeting at the State House, Abuja.
According to her, the Council agreed that the timing of the removal of fuel subsidy should not be now, but that government should continue with all of the preparatory works that needed to be done.
She said the NEC agreed that this preparatory works had to be done in consultation with the states and other key stakeholders, including representatives of the incoming administration.
Ahmed added that the Council agreed that the fuel subsidy must be removed earlier rather than later because it was not sustainable.
“We cannot afford it anymore. But we have to do it in such a way that the impact of the subsidy is as much as possible, mitigated on the lives of ordinary Nigerians,” she stated.
She said this would require looking at alternatives to the fuel subsidy that needed to be planned for and subsequently put in place and also also what needed to be done to support the people that would be most affected as a result of the removal.
The minister said the federal government had a plan that it would start working on, putting the building blocks towards the eventual removal of the first subsidy.
Ahmed stated that the budget for 2023 had a provision for fuel subsidy only up to June 2023 and that the Petroleum Industry Act had a provision that required that all petroleum products must be deregulated 18 months after the effective date of the PMS removal and that the period was also up to June 2023.