President Muhammadu Buhari has promised Nigerians that fuel subsidy will be completely removed in 2023.
He gave this assurance while presenting the proposed N19.76 trillion budget for the 2023 financial year.According to him, fuel subsidy is a big issue in government finance and efforts have been put in place to remove the subsidy.
Following the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act, the Federal government was expected to stop the controversial fuel subsidy in six months which was June 2022.
However, appearing before the House of Representatives’ Ad Hoc Committee recently the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab proposed a new date of June 2023, stating that the subsidy regime was not sustainable and might force the government to borrow more in 2023.
The new date for subsidy removal was again reiterated by President Buhari during the presentation.
This means that President Buhari billed to leave office on May 29, 2023, will leave the decision to implement the new date to remove subsidy for the next president.
A check on the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited showed that in the first seven months of 2022, more than N2.04 trillion has been spent on subsidy payments alone.
In January, N210.38 billion was spent on subsidy, N219.78 billion in February, while N245.77 billion was spent in March
In the month of April, May, June and July, the federal government spent N271.58, N327.06 billion, N319.17 billion and N448.782 billion, respectively.
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