There is no doubt that the proposed fuel subsidy removal, though well deserved, will push Nigerians further into poverty. But the Federal Government says N5,000 will be given to the vulnerable among the poor
According finance, budget and planning Minister, Zainab Ahmed, the N5,000 will be disbursed to 40 million poor Nigerians to assist them cushion the impact of fuel subsidy removal which will happen in mid-2022.
Ahmed said the N5,000 (about the price of 6kg cooking gas), is designed to cushion the negative impact of the removal of the subsidy on the most vulnerable 40% of the population ahead of the target date of mid-2022 for the complete elimination of fuel subsidies.
She said the N5,000 will be a monthly stipend to between 30 and 40 million deserving Nigerians.
According to the finance minister, “with the expansion of social protection policies during the pandemic, the government has an opportunity to phase out subsidies such as the PMS subsidy while utilizing cash transfers to safeguard the welfare of poor and middle-class households.
“The government intends to accelerate our structural reforms, particularly in the power sector, in governance, in business environment to unlock the huge potentials of the economy, scale-up social safety net and deepen financial inclusion to reduce poverty and inequality gaps. We will carefully calibrate the sequencing of these reforms to manage their attendant political fallouts.
“The recent developments in the oil sector, such as the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, the full reactivation of the four public refineries in the country, and the completion and coming on stream of the three private refineries under construction in 2022, would significantly boost contribution from the sector to our economic growth efforts,” she said.
She then stated that “the subsidies regime in the sector remains unsustainable and economically disingenuous”.
Zainab Ahmed also stated that “digital revolution is looming in Nigeria and waiting to happen spontaneously”.
She said the digital economy can transform economic activities by unleashing new productivity gains, offering new services, and improving the government’s efficiency.
“We need greater investments in newer and competitive technologies to be made for the provision of critical infrastructure in the telecoms sector to unleash potentials.”
