President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in Abuja while speaking at the First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat at the State House Conference Centre said that, there is no provision for fuel subsidy in the revised 2020 budget.
This is coming amid outcry among Nigerians on the recent hike in petrol price in the country, coupled with increase in electricity tariff.
“There are several negative consequences if Government should even attempt to go back to the business of fixing or subsidizing PMS prices, President Buhari said.
“First of all, it would mean a return to the costly subsidy regime. Today we have 60% less revenues, we just cannot afford the cost.
“There is no provision for fuel subsidy in the revised 2020 budget, simply because we are not able to afford it, if reasonable provisions must be made for health, education and other social services. We now simply have no choice.
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“Nevertheless, I want to assure our compatriots that Government is extremely mindful of the pains that higher prices mean at this time, and we do not take the sacrifices that all Nigerians have to make for granted.
“We will continue to seek ways and means of cushioning pains especially for the most vulnerable in our midst. We will also remain alert to our responsibilities to ensure that marketers do not exploit citizens by raising pump price arbitrarily.
“This is the role that government must now play through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). This explains why the PPPRA made the announcement a few days ago setting the range of price that must not be exceeded by marketers.
“The advantage we now have is that anyone can bring in petroleum products and compete with marketers, that way the price of petrol will be keep coming down.”
On electricity President Buhari said “many Nigerians were yet to be connected to electricity, the Economic Sustainability Plan will provide Solar home systems to five million Nigerian households in the next 12 months.”
“Implementation of a Willing Buyer, Willing Seller Policy for the power sector, has opened up opportunities for increased delivery of electricity to homes and industries.
“We are also executing some critical projects through the Transmission, Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme, which will result in the transmission and distribution of a total of 11,000 Megawatts by 2023.
Click here to read full address of president Buhari.
Nairametrics reported in July, that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) spent over N535.9 billion on subsidy and Federation Account Allocation Committee in the first quarter of 2020.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources in July said ‘’It has become expedient for the Ministry of Petroleum to explain misconceptions around the issue of Petroleum Products Deregulation. After a thorough examination of the economics of subsidizing PMS for domestic consumption, the government concluded that it was unrealistic to continue with the burden of subsidizing PMS to the tune of trillions of Naira every year.’’
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
