Taiwo Oyedele, the Chairman, Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, has disclosed that N8 trillion will be saved annually from petrol subsidy removal and forex exchange unification.
On his inauguration as Nigeria’s leader on May 29, 2023, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu announced an end to the multi-billion naira petrol subsidy, saying the government could no longer bear the burden of subsidizing the item.
The government later end the subsidy on the naira exchange to the dollar by unifying the forex market.
Analysts insist that huge funds have been saved from the policies after months of implementation.
Oyedele however called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration to ensure that the savings from the two policies are channeled on programmes that will have positive effects on Nigerians.
He spoke during an event organized by the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry to analyse the 2024 Budget, saying that Nigerians have made a huge sacrifice due to the removal of subsidy on petrol and foreign exchange.
Oyedele said, “The Nigerian people made sacrifices as a result of the fuel subsidy removal of the government; that is N4tn savings a year. We did naira floatation. It is not perfect. We are also saving another N4tn. So we are having about roughly N8tn transferred from the private pockets of the people to the government.
“So, what we are saying to the government is — can we be intentional in spending this N8tn to make sure that it impacts the people most positively? Starting with the multidimensional poverty. why is it that more than 133 million people in Nigeria are living in multidimensional poverty? So these are the conversations we are having now. We want to build a platform where we can track how these monies are being spent.”
Not a few Nigerians have lamented that they are yet to feel the impact of the money saved from the removal of subsidies from the two items despite government promise that such would be channeled to critical areas in the economy capable of transforming the economy to better life for Nigerians.
