FG postpones subsidy removal till further notice

Minister of Finance Hajia Zainab Ahmed has retracted government earlier decision to remove fuel subsidy in July 2022. She told the National Assembly that federal government has postponed the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products till further notice. Disclosing this during a meeting with the President of the Senate, Senator Ahmad Lawan, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, said that  the Federal Government initially had the plans to remove subsidy on petroleum products from July this year. According to her,  that was the reason  adequate provision was made in the 2022 national budget for subsidy payment till June, adding,  “Provision was made in the 2022 budget for subsidy payment from January till June. That suggested that from July, there would be no subsidy.

“The provision was made sequel to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act which indicated that all petroleum products would be deregulated. Sequel to the passage of the PIA, we went back to amend the fiscal framework to incorporate the subsidy removal. However, after the budget was passed, we had consultations with a number of stakeholders and it became clear that the timing was problematic. We discovered that practically, there is still heightened inflation and that the removal of subsidy would further worsen the situation and impose more difficulties on the citizenry. Mr. President (Muhammadu Buhari), does not want to do that. What we are now doing is to continue with the ongoing discussions and consultations in terms of putting in place a number of measures. One of these include the roll out of the refining capacities of the existing refineries and the new ones which would reduce amount of  products that would be imported into the country.

“We therefore need to return to the National Assembly to now amend the budget and make additional provision for subsidy from July 22 to whatever period that we agreed was suitable for the commencement of the total removal’. The President  of the Senate  urged the organised labour unions in the country to shelve their proposed nationalwife protests as it was no longer necessary. The meeting dissolved to a closed session and it is still ongoing as of the time of filing this report. The meeting was convened at the instance of the President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan. At the meeting were  the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva and the Group Managing Director of the. NNPC Limited, Mele Kyari, among others.