Nigeria Has No Plan To Remove Fuel Subsidy, Finance Minister Insists

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“We are not there yet and we discuss this periodically under the Economic Management Team. But we have not found a formula that works for Nigeria and you know Nigeria is unique

Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, has once again reassured the Niegrisnd that the country has no plan to remove fuel subsidy.

This was said in a press statement issued to further clarify why the country cannot remove subsidy as advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the just-concluded Spring Meetings in Washington DC, United States of America.

She said: “NNPC is the sole importer of petroleum products, and so when they import it is the cost of business and they deduct that cost before they remit the little money to the federation account. So that is completely different.

“It is more cost effective, it is cheaper and what is being done now is easier to monitor what transpired.

“We are not there yet and we discuss this periodically under the Economic Management Team. But we have not found a formula that works for Nigeria and you know Nigeria is unique because what works in Ghana may not work in here.

“So, it is still work in progress and so there is no intention to remove fuel subsidy at this time.”

Ahmed pointed out that the problem plaguing the country is the inability to generate revenue to drive the economy. She stated that when revenues perform at the aggregate rate of 55 per cent, it hinders the ability to operate in our budget while adding that efforts are being made to shore revenue.

The Finance Minister also said that Nigeria borrowing rate to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is still low when compared to other countries. She asserted that the country is still within the Fiscal Responsibility Act.

“In the borrowing, we are still at 19 per cent to GDP; our borrowing is still low.

“What is allowed by our Fiscal Responsibility Act is the maximum of 25 per cent of our GDP compared to other countries like Ghana, Egypt, South Africa, Angola and Brazil and we are the lowest in terms of borrowing,” Ahmed said.