Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national
planning, says the federal government has no plans of suspending the removal of
petrol subsidy.
On Thursday, the minister had reportedly said the National
Economic Council (NEC) agreed to temporarily suspend the removal of petrol
subsidy.
However, in a statement on Friday, Ahmed said the government
has no such plans, instead it intends to expand the subsidy removal committee
to include teams from the incoming administration and the state governors.
She said NEC deliberated on the issue extensively and came
to the conclusion that subsidy must be removed, as it is not sustainable; but
expressed need for further consultations, “especially the need to involve
members of the incoming administration and representatives of the state
governments”.
“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,” Ahmad was
quoted by Yunusa Abdullahi, the
minister’s special adviser on media and communications.
“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.”
Ahmed said 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 also said the 2023 fiscal framework and appropriation
act as well as the petroleum industry act (PIA) have made the provision that
the government should exit petrol subsidy by June 2023.
“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,” the minister added.
Following a N3.35 trillion subsidy budget in 2022, the
federal government said it would stop under-recovery payments in June 2023.
On April 5, the federal government said it secured the sum
of $800 million from the World Bank, as part of its post-subsidy palliative
plans.
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