Abuja, Dec. 14, 2023 – The federal government is no longer subsidising petrol price.
Mohammed Idris, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, said this on Thursday while speaking on Channels Television.
The minister, who was responding to the World Bank’s report the Nigeria was still subsidising the price of petrol, said the era of petrol subsidy in Nigeria was gone for good.
The World Bank had reported that current fuel prices in Nigeria were not real and that the Federal Government was still subsidizing petrol price.
It suggested that the real price of petrol in Nigeria should be about N750 per litre, instead of the current price of N650 per litre.
The minister, however, said subsidy removal had translated to increased revenue to the federation account.
“Subsidy is gone, and the President told Nigerians from his first day in office that there won’t be subsidy (on petrol).
“It is because subsidy has gone that we have so much money available for government to do so many things. Of course, it’s never enough, but fuel subsidy is gone and it’s gone for good.
“There are instances where government needs to come in to see that things don’t go so bad. That’s the responsibility of government. Every rule will also have its self-adjusting mechanism, but I can assure Nigerians that subsidy is gone.
“If you look at the monies accruing to the federation account and the kind of money the states are receiving, you would know that everybody desires that subsidy should go.
“What do we do with that subsidy, I think, is the next question. We need to scrutinise that, so that Nigerians would have the benefit of the subsidy that has been taken away. Subsidy is gone.” (GBN)
