The government of Nigeria has again suspended a move to remove subsidy on petroleum products.
Development Diaries reports that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, Thursday announced the latest suspension at the need of the National Economic Council (NEC) presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
President Muhammadu Buhari had in October last year assured Nigerians that the petroleum subsidy would end at the end of his administration, saying it was no longer sustainable in the current fiscal impact.
But the reason given by the minister for the suspension was that the timing should not be now and that there need to be consultations with state governors and other stakeholders.
She said, ‘Council agreed that the timing of the removal of fuel subsidy should not be now. But that we should continue with all of the preparatory works that need to be done and that this preparatory work has to be done in consultation with the states and other key stakeholders including representatives of the incoming administration’.
However, there is uncertainty over the suspension of the removal of petroleum subsidy as the finance ministry has denied the report.
The ministry tweeted, ‘Against the backdrop of the story in some media that @NigeriaGov
has suspended the removal of petrol subsidy, the government has said that it has not suspended the removal as stated by HM@ZShamsuna’.
“Fuel Subsidy Removal Not Suspended As Government On Course”- Removal Committee: Against the backdrop of the story in some media that @NigeriaGov has suspended the removal of petrol subsidy, the government has said that it has not suspended the removal as stated by HM @ZShamsuna pic.twitter.com/Cp0toSCP3f
— Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (@FinMinNigeria) April 28, 2023
The minister explained that the subsidy removal committee has been expanded to include teams from the incoming administration and the state governors.
Recall that the minister of finance has at different times announced subsidy removal plans by the federal government.
In November 2022, she announced that the federal government will do away with petroleum subsidy by June 2023.
Recall, too, that the finance minister had in January 2022 announced that the government will retain fuel subsidy indefinitely and will work on amending the 2022 budget to provide funds for that purpose. This was as against earlier plans by the administration to remove the fuel subsidy by July 2022.
The minister had said then that the government realised the timing of its planned removal of petroleum subsidy was ‘problematic’, and will worsen the suffering of Nigerians.
What Buhari said in 2025
President Buhari had during his campaigning ahead of the 2015 presidential election, questioned the justification behind retaining fuel subsidy and described it as a fraud.
However, close to the end of his eight years in office, the same administration announced that subsidy removal will come into effect in June 2023, after Buhari will have completed his two terms in office.
This reason does not seem valid because before making the subsidy removal announcement in the first place, various consultations ought to have happened to know how best to achieve the plan.
From every indication, the government appears to be taking Nigerians for granted, which has become a usual occurrence, anyway. It is unfortunate that the government shows itself to be indecisive in making key decisions like this.
It portrays an image of uncertainty and lack of political will concerning subsidy removal. The action by the government does not inspire confidence, and it further widens the lack of trust between the government and the citizens.
Development Diaries calls on the government to be transparent and accountable in its decision to remove fuel subsidy, instead of having a back-and-forth on the same issue.
Photo source: Zainab Ahmed
