Whereas the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, has said that the Federal Government was borrowing money to fund petrol subsidies, a social affairs commentator, Dr Ken Igboanugo has argued that programming end to fuel subsidy in in-coming administration rather than the present amounts to wickedness and unacceptable.
Otherwise, just as the Minister is insisting that the subsidy regime had become totally unsustainable, the analyst says it may not stand as the in-coming regime would not be able to manage the ensuring crisis just within less than one month in office after all.
The Minister had in a public presentation of details of the 2023 budget in Abuja, stated: “Fuel subsidy cost was a very high one; We have been funding it from borrowing.” According to her, petrol subsidy will “remain up to mid-2023 based on the 18-month extension announced early 2022. In this regard, only N3.36 trillion has been provided for the PMS subsidy.” President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had announced plans to end subsidy from July 2022 but changed its position when faced with threats of nationwide protests by labour. Party members and some officials of the administration were said to have convinced President Buhari that the decision will negatively affect his public rating and that of the ruling party and this forced the government to later announce an extension of the subsidy regime to lapse in June this year, one month after leaving office.
