The Nigerian government has now revealed that fuel subsidy will guzzle N5.4 trillion in 2024 despite denial that it entirely deregulated the sector.
Minister of Finance, Wale Edun announced this in a recent presentation of the Accelerated Stabilisation and Advancement Plan, ASAP report.
He said the ASAP report was aimed to address critical difficulties hindering the reform attempts and boost development in various sectors of the economy.
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“At current rates, expenditure on fuel subsidy is projected to reach N5.4 trillion by the end of 2024. This compares unfavourably with N3.6 trillion in 2023 and N2.0 trillion in 2022,” a draft copy of the ASAP presented by Edun said.
Meanwhile, Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Oil, at a recent ministerial briefing to honour President Bola Tinubu’s anniversary stated that gasoline subsidy had been totally abolished.
“I can confirm to you that subsidy is gone; officially, there is no subsidy; I want to make it clear that there is no subsidy in the country today”, he stated.
Recall that the President of the Trade Union Congress, Festus Osifo, had, in April, stated that the Nigerian government was currently putting quasi-subsidy on fuel.
Recall that Tinubu’s infamous fuel subsidy is gone statement acted as a springboard for the policy implementation in June 2023, forcing the pump price of the commodity to surge from N250 per litre to over N500.
Since then, the pump price of petrol has continued to increase, reaching an average of N702 per litre in April 2024.
The ripple effect of gasoline subsidy and the Naira floating policy in June last year saw Nigeria’s headline and food inflation jump to 33.69 percent and 40.53 in April 2024.
