The Federal Government says it has secured $800 million from the World Bank under the National Social Investment Programme to be used as palliatives to cushion the effects of the planned petrol subsidy removal. The subsidy removal is expected to take effect from June 2023.
The government had said it was going to come up with a programme that is targeting between 500 to 5000 people in the lower log of the society to cut the expected bite of the subsidy removal.
The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed it on Wednesday during a post Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja.
“The second question on exit of fuel subsidy, this is a commitment in the Petroleum Industry Bill. There is a provision that says that 18 months after the effectiveness of the PIA that all petroleum products must be deregulated, that 18 months takes us to June 2023,” the minister said while addressing journalists at the presidential villa.
“Also, when we were working on the 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Appropriation Act, we made that provision to enable us exit fuel subsidy by June 2023.
“We’re on course, we’re having different stakeholder engagements, we’ve secured some funding from the World Bank, that is the first tranche of palliatives that will enable us give cash transfers to the most vulnerable in our society that have now been registered in a national social register. Today that register has a list of 10 million households. 10 million households are equivalent to about 50 million Nigerians,” Mrs Ahmed said.
She however acknowledged that government would have to raise more resources to enable it do more than just the cash transfers.
“Also, in our engagements with the various stakeholders, the various kinds of tasks that we have go beyond the requirement of just giving cash transfers. Labour, for example, might be looking for mass transit for its members,” she stated.
