Nigeria’s new President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu has told Nigerians that the era of subsidy payment on fuel has ended.
The Buhari administration planned to end subsidy on fuel next month as a result of pressure on government coffers.
To this end, the Buhari administration only made payment of fuel subsidy covering half year 2023.
In August last year, the Minister for Finance Zainab Ahmed disclosed that the Federal Government will be incurring about N6.4 trillion annually if the policy remains.
Delivering his inaugural address on Monday after he was sworn in as the 16th President, the new Nigerian leader declared that “the fuel subsidy is gone.”
Tinubu said his government shall instead channel funds into infrastructure and other areas to strengthen the economy, adding that a “unified exchange rate” is guaranteed under his administration.
“We commend the decision of the outgoing administration in phasing out the petrol subsidy regime which has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor. Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources. We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the millions of lives,’’ the President said.
Source: https://energynewsafrica.com