Petrol Subsidy Removal: No Going Back, As FG Gets $800m World Bank Grant For Palliatives

Ahead the planned removal of fuel subsidy, the federal government, on Wednesday, announced that it has secured $800 million from the World Bank to support government’s efforts at cushioning the effects on Nigerians.

The funds from the Bretton Wood based financial institution will be distributed to at least 50 million poor Nigerians, according to the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed.

The Minister made the disclosure on Thursday amidst divisions on whether the subsidy should go by the mid of this year according to government’s projections.

For instance, the organised Labour under the aegis of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, and Trade Union Congress, TUC, said last week that they will not support the removal until the country’s four refiners are repaired and put back to operation.

Speaking on the same issue, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo said the incoming administration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu will decide when the subsidy will be removed. The president-elect had promised the removal of subsidy as a cardinal objective of his administration.
Addressing the issue after the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting yesterday, Ahmed said talk is ongoing with representatives of the incoming administration on how to remove fuel subsidy.

The minister said a register has already being opened to capture Nigerians who will benefit from the World Bank grant in terms of direct cash transfer, adding that other measures will also be taken to adress some of the issues being raised by the organized labour.

Concerning the subsidy removal “We’re on course, we’re having different stakeholders’ engagements, we’ve secured some funding from the World Bank, that is the first tranche of palliatives that will enable us give cash transfers to the most vulnerable in our society that have now been registered in a national social register,” she said.

“Today that register has a list of 10 million households. Ten million households is equivalent to about 50 million Nigerians.
“We also have to raise more resources to enable us do more than just the cash transfers and also in our engagements with the various stakeholders, the various kinds of tasks that we have go beyond the requirement of just giving cash transfers. Labour, for example, might be looking for mass transit for its members.

“So there are several things that we’re still planning and working on, some we can start executing quickly, some are more medium-term implementation.

“On the secondary question on exit of fuel subsidy, this is a commitment in the Petroleum Industry Act. There’s a provision that says 18 months after the effectiveness of the PIA, all petroleum products must be deregulated, that 18 months takes us to June 2023,” Ahmed said.

The federal government announced last October that it will spend over N3 trillion on petrol subsidy by the first half of 2023.