The National Economic Council has declared it will take a decision on the knotty issue of petroleum subsidy removal in June, when the existing subsidy will cease.
The announcement came as some workers’ groups warned the government to retract its plans to remove the subsidy, noting that the action would lead higher inflationary pressure in the country.
The government has been under pressure from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to raise the prices of petroleum products and electricity in the country, as a way of reducing the budget deficits and worsening macroeconomic balance.
Under the Petroleum Industry Act signed last year by President Muhammadu Buhari, the existing subsidies on petroleum product will end in June, covering the six-month period for which there is provision for it in the 2022 budget.
What happens to Nigerians after June is now a matter of concern to the citizens.
Speaking to journalists in Abuja after NEC’s meeting on Thursday, Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule pointed out that provision for subsidy in the 2022 budget terminates in June.
He said that the decision on what to do next would come from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited, which is now a profit-making entity.
Sule explained that governors, as members of the NEC, cannot determine the prices of petroleum products. “If the Minister of Finance (Zainab Ahmed) provides subsidy for six months, you probably can understand part of the reasons for the provision.
“When the NNPC Limited fully takes off, it is at that moment that decisions on subsidy removal will be made.
“I want to make the correction that it is not governors who are making recommendations. It is actually a NEC committee that comprises all the others.
“Already, the Petroleum Industry Act has fully taken charge, and it will not require any recommendation from anybody.”
Obaseki said the Federal Government was spending about N2 trillion on petroleum subsidy annually.
The governor said the amount could have been used for other purposes, adding that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which sells for N162-165 per litre in Nigeria, is 100 per cent higher in other countries.
According to him, the NEC wondered whether that should be allowed to continue in a situation where, he pointed out, only two-thirds of the states of the federation consume the subsidy.
Sule said: “As you are aware, the issue of subsidy has been one matter that NEC has deliberated on for more than a year now.
“There was an ad-hoc committee, which was set up by NEC headed by Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State that included members of the Executive arm of government.
“The committee worked on recommendations as to what we should do about the cost of PMS locally because as you realise, as has been told us, the cost of PMS in Nigeria today is about N162 per litre, whereas every other country surrounding Nigeria is selling the same product at more than 100 per cent of the cost in Nigeria.
“And the country as at last year spent in excess of N2 trillion subsidising petroleum products. That is money that could have gone into building roads, money that could have gone into healthcare and education.
“So, for NEC, the arguments have been put out, should we continue this regime of spending money we do not have to subsidize the living standards of only mostly those who have vehicles?
“And when NEC looked at some of the analysis last year, we then realised that less than 1/3 of the states of this country consume two-thirds of the subsidy.
Already, the organised labour says government should shelve the planned subsidy removal. The Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities has said its members would resist the plan, vowing that the organsied labour would be part of the resistance.
“Civil Servant leaders cannot fold their hands and allow Nigerians experience more hardship than this. But all hands must be on deck to fight for our right. Nigeria Labour Congress will protest any increment in fuel price by the Federal Government,” Haruna Ibrahim, the National President of the Association said at a meeting in Ife on Thursday.
“We have it in good authority that about N200 will be added to the N162 or N170 depending on where you are buying as fuel price in Nigeria,” he said.
“This the NLC totally rejects and SSANU will participate fully in this protest across Nigeria on the 27th of this month.
“The present Federal Government of Nigeria is not doing any better in its relationship with our labour unions,” he said.
