President Muhammadu Buhari has affirmed that the costly
petrol subsidy will end by 2023.
Buhari said this on Friday during the presentation of the
proposed 2023 budget to the national assembly, in Abuja.
Buhari had presented a record N20.51 trillion 2023
appropriation bill to the national assembly, earlier on Friday.
He said the subsidy was no longer sustainable considering
the current fiscal impact.
“As we seek to grow
our government revenues, we must also focus on the efficiency of utilisation of
our limited resources. Critical steps we are taking include immediate
implementation of additional measures towards reducing the cost of governance
and the discontinuation of fuel subsidy in 2023 as announced earlier,” he said.
Buhari said discontinuing the policy was necessary for the
country to manage its limited resources.
However, he noted that there would be alternative provisions
to curb the effects of the petrol subsidy removal.
“We are however
mindful of the fact that reducing government spending too drastically can be
socially destabilising, and so will continue to implement programmes to support
the more vulnerable segments of society,” he said.
“Petrol subsidy has been a recurring and controversial
public policy issue in our country since the early eighties. However, its
current fiscal impact has clearly shown that the policy is unsustainable.
“As a country, we must now confront this issue taking
cognisance of the need to provide safety nets to cushion the attendant effects
on some segments of society.”
Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national
planning, had said the federal government will halt spending on petrol subsidy
in June 2023.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited spent
N2.565 trillion on petrol subsidy payments since the beginning of the year.
This year, the federal government has projected to spend N4 trillion on petrol subsidies, and another estimated N6.7 trillion in 2023 (if subsidy is not removed).
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