FG says fuel subsidy removal not suspended, expands committee

From Abubakar Yunusa Abuja

Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, has said that the government did not suspend plans to remove fuel subsidies but has rather expanded the subsidy removal committee to include teams from the incoming administration and the state governors.

A statement issued by Mrs Ahmed’s Special Adviser on Media & Communications, Yunusa Abdullahi, made this known in a statement shared with journalists recently.

“Against the backdrop of the story in some media that the federal government has suspended the removal of petrol subsidy, the government has said that it has not suspended the removal, but has rather expanded the subsidy removal committee to include teams from the incoming administration and the state governors,” the statement said.

According to the statement, the minister said that NEC deliberated on the issue extensively and came to the conclusion that the subsidy must be removed as it is not sustainable, but that there is a need for further consultations, especially the need to involve members of the incoming administration and representatives of the State governments.

She said: “We agreed to form an expanded committee that will be looking at the process for the removal of the subsidy, including determining the exact time as well as the measures that need to be taken to provide support to the poor and the vulnerable.”

“There is also the need to agree to alternative measures that will be put in place to ensure that there is sufficient supply of petroleum products in the country,” the statement quoted Mrs Ahmed as saying.

The statement comes against the backdrop of plans to suspend the removal of subsidies on petroleum products by the end of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

According to the statement, the minister explained that the “Subsidy Removal Committee” currently comprises the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, the downstream and upstream regulators, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Chief Economic Adviser to the President.

She noted that the 2023 Fiscal Framework and Appropriation Act as well as the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) have made the provision that the government should exit fuel subsidies by June 2023.

She explained that the committee is to work out a road map for the removal of the subsidy.

“No change in the overall policy direction regarding the petrol subsidy is envisaged by June 2023,” it said.

The Nigerian government has, for decades, subsidised fuel and fixed retail prices of petroleum products. The payment has, however, threatened the nation’s fiscal position and impacted the government’s ability to fund developmental projects across the nation.

In November 2021, the federal government announced its plan to remove the fuel subsidy and replace it with a monthly N5,000 transport grant for poor Nigerians.

But the government later suspended the plan after the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC) threatened to embark on mass protests.

In February, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urged the Nigerian government to deliver on its commitment to remove fuel subsidies by mid-2023.

The Washington-based lender in a report titled ‘IMF Executive Board Concludes 2022 Article IV Consultation with Nigeria’ urged the authorities to deliver on their “commitment to increase well-targeted social spending.”

Despite rising oil prices, the IMF said, the government’s fiscal deficit is estimated to have widened further in 2022, mainly due to high fuel subsidy costs.