No fuel subsidy removal on card for now, finance, petroleum ministers tell NASS

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3 years ago

Zainab Ahmed, Minister of Finance

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, and his counterpart in the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, have said the Federal Government was not in a hurry to remove the contentious subsidy on Petroleum products. The duo disclosed that provision was made for subsidy payment to marketers in the 2022 Budget.

They dropped the hint on Monday at a session with the President of the Senate and other principal officers of the Red Chamber.

The Minister of Finance in her submission said that there was provision for subsidy payment in the 2022 Budget till the end of June. She declared that the payment would cease, effective from July.

She said: “Provision was made in the 2022 budget for subsidy payment from January till June. That suggested that from July, there would be no subsidy.

”The provision was made a sequel to the passage of the Petroleum Industry Act which indicated that all petroleum products would be deregulated.

“Sequel to the passage of the PIA, we went back to amend the fiscal framework to incorporate the subsidy removal.

“However, after the budget was passed, we had consultations with a number of stakeholders and it became clear that the timing was problematic.

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“We discovered that practically, there is still heightened inflation and that the removal of subsidy would further worsen the situation and impose more difficulties on the citizenry.

“Mr President (Muhammadu Buhari), does not want to do that. What we are now doing is to continue with the ongoing discussions and consultations in terms of putting in place a number of measures.

“One of these include the roll-out of the refining capacities of the existing refineries and the new ones which would reduce the amount of products that would be imported into the country.

“We therefore need to return to the National Assembly to now amend the budget and make additional provision for subsidy from July 22 to whatever period that we agreed was suitable for the commencement of the total removal.

Sylva who said there is a need to dialogue with the National Assembly noted that the issue of fuel subsidy is a legislative one since the 2022 Appropriation Act provided for subsidy up to June this year, implying that there would not be subsidy from July this year.

He stressed that the only option is for the National Assembly to revisit the Appropriation Act with the view to amending it to provide for subsidy beyond June 2022, adding that “law is no cast in iron.”

“It is a legislative responsibility now to see what can be done in extending that time frame for it to be in the purview of the law, secondly the other legislative issue arising from it is the provision for the subsidy that is not there after June.”

The Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, earlier laid the foundation for the meeting when he recalled his meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on the possible removal of petroleum subsidy.

“There is need at one point to do away with subsidy but the President genuinely feel for Nigerians particularly the most vulnerable. Even though our economy is growing but we still have challenge getting better.

“Because of this feeling by the President and most of us in this administration believe that the issue of removal of subsidy should be handled with utmost care especially that sufficient planning needs to be done to provide necessary parliatives.”

Senator Lawan appealed to the organized Labour unions to shelve their planned protest, as he noted that the protest was no longer necessary.

“I am taking this opportunity to speak to Trade Union Congress and Nigerian Labour Congress to shelve this their plan to go on strike or demonstration. It is totally unnecessary. There is not going to be removal of subsidy so let us not create unnecessary tension where there should be none.

“Please, forget about the 27th of January deadline. We are supposed to come together and work assiduously to see that our country is stable that our people enjoy the benefits of Government programs and projects. At the end of the day, whatever decision we would be taking would be in the best interest of our people.

Also at the meeting at the instance of the President of the Senate were the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Regulatory Authourity, Farouk Ahmed; Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, and Commissioned Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe.

Others were the Special Assistant to the President on Natural Resources, Habib Nuhu, Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Finance, Aliyu Shehu Shinkafi, and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nasir Sani-Gwarzo