The Federal Government, through the Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, has said that fuel subsidy removal is yet to be suspended.
A statement on Friday by the Minister’s Special Adviser, Media and Communications, Yunusa Abdullahi, indicated that the Federal Government planned to expand the subsidy removal committee to include state governors and teams from the incoming administration.
The statement read, “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.”
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In an earlier report, the Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, said the National Economic Council agreed that the subsidy must be “removed now, rather than later,” as the nation could not afford it anymore.
She said, “Council agreed that the fuel subsidy must be removed earlier rather than later because it is not sustainable. We cannot afford it anymore. But we have to do it in such a way that the impact of the subsidy is mitigated on the lives of ordinary Nigerians.”
On the $800m loan acquired from the World Bank as subsidy palliative, the minister stated, “So far, what we have is $800m that has been secured and intact. Again, that is a matter for discussion.
“The states may have their own plans; they may want to have their own designated programmes different from what the Federal Government may want to do.
Punch
