FG has claimed to be doing Nigeria’s economy some favor, by eliminating subsidy. They announced that Nigeria would save N400bn monthly after the removal, but where is the savings? SERAP queries.
The issue around the predicted ‘N400 billion savings’ has upset Nigerians after more than 30 days of gasoline subsidy withdrawal.
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Mr Mele Kyari, Group Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, revealed in February this year that the country spends over N400 billion each month on fuel subsidies.
He said that by FG eliminating subsidies, the country would save money.
According to the 2023-2035 medium-term expenditure framework and fiscal strategy document, MTEF & FSP, the country spent N3.35 trillion on fuel subsidies in the first half of 2023.
SurgeZirc NG discovered that NNPCL ascribed no remittance to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) to fuel subsidy payment.
However, despite the withdrawal of fuel subsidies in June of this year, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has yet to reveal the details of the savings from the removal of subsidies.
Nigerians are yet to glimpse the light with the $800 million international bank loan obtained by previous President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration as a palliative for fuel subsidy withdrawal.
As a result, individuals are coping with the impact of subsidy reduction, which has increased the prices of transportation, commodities, and services.
As a result, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, demanded the government to divulge the details of the savings from the removal of fuel subsidies in a statement issued over the weekend.
SERAP, like some Nigerians, is concerned about the predicted savings from the elimination of fuel subsidies.
SERAP is concerned that the savings from subsidy elimination will be embezzled into FG private pockets.
No surprise, according to Daniel Bwala, the spokesperson for the Atiku-Okowa Presidential Council, Nigerians are suffering as a result of the poor implementation of the subsidy removal.
He stated that Tinubu’s administration should implement measures to mitigate the effects of subsidy elimination.
I believe that the problem of the hardship Nigerians are experiencing as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies stems from either premature removal or removal without a broad-based plan for the cushion effect, he wrote on Twitter.
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Dr. Ayo Tariba, Chief Executive of Economic Associates, informed SurgeZirc NG on Monday that there are no savings from the elimination of fuel subsidies because Buhari’s administration never found the monies to back the provisions.
There are actually no ‘savings’ from subsidy removal because the Buhari regime never found the funds to back the subsidy provisions it made in the budget, resulting in a pile of unpaid debts to NNPCL, he said.
