ABUJA, Nigeria – The Federal Government has disclosed how an estimated ₦15.8 trillion in savings from fuel subsidy removal was distributed over the past three years.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Taiwo Oyedele, revealed the figures during a press conference on Wednesday.
According to Oyedele, the savings accrued to the Federation Account and were shared among the Federal Government, states and local governments.
The Federal Government received ₦5.43 trillion, while state governments received ₦6.52 trillion and local governments received ₦3.88 trillion.
The minister added that other economic reforms generated ₦3.12 trillion in additional revenue, while the government recorded ₦11.85 trillion in incremental borrowing.
This brought the Federal Government's additional resources during the period to approximately ₦20.4 trillion.
However, Oyedele said the subsidy removal did not create a single pool of money available for federal spending.
He explained that additional government expenditure during the same period reached approximately ₦30.64 trillion.
The expenditure included ₦9.39 trillion for wage adjustments, ₦9.37 trillion for external debt servicing, ₦6.47 trillion for infrastructure and ₦3.14 trillion for electricity subsidies.
“Subsidy removal therefore did not create one large pool of cash available to the Federal Government. It reduced a major fiscal burden and the amount of additional borrowing that would otherwise have been required,” Oyedele said.
President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy in May 2023, a decision that immediately pushed up fuel prices and was followed by significant fluctuations in the value of the naira.
The government has maintained that the reform was necessary to reduce the country's fiscal burden and create room for spending on infrastructure, wages, social programmes and other priorities.
The disclosure comes amid continued public debate over how the savings from subsidy removal have been utilised and whether Nigerians are receiving sufficient benefits from the government's economic reforms.
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