By Ikechukwu Ezenwosu
The Federal Government under the leadership of President Mohammed Buhari had decided that come June 2023, fuel subsidy will be removed in Nigeria. But they are now leaving that final decision to the incoming government of President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
According to Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, the Federal Government has prepared the modalities on how the whole process will be executed in order to achieve the desired results. But you can agree with me that things don’t normally go the way it was planned, without one challenge or the other.
The past Governments at one time or the other worked out plans to remove fuel subsidy but each ended up not coming to pass because of a lot of issues surrounding it. Even the present Government criticized the idea of fuel subsidy removal as opposition when the past Government of President Goodluck Jonathan tried to do same.
The fact remains that before the desired idea behind subsidy removal will come to pass, there are certain conditions that should be met before embarking on such an economic journey.
Don’t forget that majority of our transportation system is private business oriented, which requires that government should get much involved in the provision of public sector led mass transport system. This must be done if they really desire to get things right regarding subsidy removal.
The IMF Director of Africa, Abebe Aemro Selassie, spoke on the issue during one of the interview session at the Spring meeting in Washington DC, USA when he was asked about Nigeria fuel subsidy removal. He said IMF does not take a position on whether to subsidize fuel or not as it is a political decision for government to make.
However he added that fuel subsidies tend to benefits the highly placed people than the poor of the country. That’s for sure. But looking at that,it makes more sense for government to go ahead in removing fuel Subsidy. the Federal Government has gone to the World Bank and got $800 million to support 50 million Nigerians ahead of June 2023 subsidy removal deadline. In fact, according to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, the fund is ready to support the first 10 million households, which will come in to these households in form of cash.
Obviously, the Federal Government is doing everything possible to make sure that the aftermath of subsidy removal will be something good to talk about. But at the moment, people are worried about how life will be after subsidy removal, because many are waiting for the government to, At least rehabilitate our old refineries before deciding to remove fuel subsidy.
Remember that we are about 200 million or more in Nigeria. So, l don’t think that $800m made to support the sum total of 50million Nigerians will be enough. And the issue of who is a vulnerable Nigerian or not is there too, making people feel worried. From the look of things, more needs to be done to make sure that Nigerians will farewell.
At the moment, transportation cost is already high. General high cost of living is high. Inflation is on the increase while fuel pump price is at about N256 and above in some states. So we cannot afford to take a wrong turn now.
THE National Economic Council (NEC) on Thursday April 27, 2023 suspended the removal of fuel subsidy, which was initially planned to take place on June 2023. This was made public after the NEC meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, which was presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
The NEC decided that Fuel Subsidy removal will not hold again as scheduled, after long deliberations on the matter, thereby suspending it. Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, affirmed this while briefing State House Correspondents at the end of the NEC meeting.
I commend the NEC for deeming it fit to stop fuel subsidy removal at least for the time being, we know that come what may, one day the fuel subsidy will be removed as being championed by the outgoing Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
But this is indeed not the proper time to remove the fuel subsidy. Since the campaign by the government and its supporters for fuel subsidy removal, Nigerians has been very worried about it especially how the aftermath will be like, before the National Economic Council came for their rescue.
What we are asking for is let the right things be done before removing it. Since the matter has been shifted to the incoming administration, let them know that they should build new refineries or rehabilitate the old ones, creates modern transportation system, diversify our economy and build more infrastructures to support our current economic growth. When most of these things up are met, l think we can then move to fuel subsidy removal proper.
Another pressing issue is the $800 million supporting fund made for vulnerable households in Nigeria. Nigerians are saying, what will be the fate of the money. But according to the NEC meeting, they were able to bring in the transition committee members of the incoming administration members and others to convey the message to them in order to continue from where the outgoing administration will stop. As we all know Government is made to be continuity. This is the street wisdom.
