Abdulwahab Isa 
The Federal Government explained yesterday that President Bola Tinubu removed fuel subsidies at his inauguration on May 29, 2023, because “the poorest of 40 per cent was only getting four per cent of the value” or “not benefitting at all”.
The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said this on AIT this while explaining the huge expenditure on fuel imports. According to him, the country spends $600 million monthly on fuel imports.
Edun said the huge expenditure on the parasitic effects of neighbouring countries, extending to Central Africa, in the consumption of imported fuel.
He explained that decided to remove fuel subsidies as the country lacks accurate data on its internal consumption. The minister said: “The fuel subsidy was removed May 29, 2023, by Mr President, and at that time, the poorest of 40 per cent was only getting four per cent of the value, and basically, they were not benefitting at all. So it was going to be just a few.
“Another point that I think is important is that nobody knows the consumption in Nigeria of petroleum. “We know we spend $600 million to import fuel every month but the issue here is that all the neighbouring countries are benefitting.
“So we are buying not just for Nigeria, we are buying for countries to the east, almost as far as Central Africa. We are buying. We are buying for countries to the North and we are buying for countries to the West.
“And so we have to ask ourselves as Nigerians, how long do we want to do that for and that is the key issue regarding the issue of petroleum pricing.”
Edun said the N570 billion fund allocated to state governments was initiated in December of last year. He said: “This actually refers to a reimbursement that they received from December last year onwards and it was a reimbursement I think under the COVID financing protocol but the point is that the states have received more money.
They have received more money. Mr President has been charged to ensure food production in the states.”
