The Politics And Economics Of Fuel Subsidy

by: Basil Enwegbara

That fuel subsidy is not the problem and inevitably necessary is never in doubt. What made fuel subsidy seem unwanted as it is being advocated by the same cabal and politicians whose partnership sabotage and milk the country is their readiness to use its absence to unleash economic hardship on the weakest members of the society. And that damaging blow will come as soon as the cabal arms itself with such a dangerous monopolistic weapon as price fixing.

One of the benefits this will guarantee this thieving cabal is the very fact that it will give the Nigerian government and people a new set of problems to be preoccupied with to the extent that no one should be talking about the trillions of naira that they stole from us in the name of fuel subsidy. In other words, what in reality they are trying to remove from our attention is the very fact that the failure of fuel subsidy policy happens because of the immense corruption smuggled into the fuel subsidy regime.

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National Assembly unaware of fuel subsidy removal and hike in electricity tariff

Leader of the House of Representatives, Mr Femi Gbajabiamila has said that the National Assembly is not aware of the fuel subsidy removal and the hike in electricity tariff, noting that the Federal Government is yet to communicate its decision to the Assembly.

Giving a report of activities of the House of Reps in the 8th Assembly from June to December, Gbajabiamila said subsidy removal and electricity hike ‘’is just being speculated’’.

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Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) kicks against removal of fuel subsidy

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) kicks against any move by the government to inflict further hardship on Nigerian workers through the removal of subsidy from petroleum products.

The Ayuba Wabba-led faction of NLC, said the national interest had always been the driving force of the congress.

Comrade Wabba stressed the need for the government to respect collective bargaining process. He stated that Nigerian workers should not be treated like slaves in their country.

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FG to remove fuel subsidy in 2016; …petrol to sell at N97 per litre

Following increased pressure on revenue and the expenditure profile, the Federal Government has finally yielded to domestic and international pressures to remove fuel subsidy.

This is coming as crude oil prices hit a seven-year low with global reference crude, West Texas Intermediate and Brent trading yesterday at $34.7 and $36.7 per barrel respectively, effectively disrupting Nigeria’s $38 per barrel benchmark for 2016 budget.

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Fuel Scarcity: Federal Govt pays N407billion outstanding subsidy claims to oil marketers

Respite seems to be in sight for Nigerians over the unending fuel scarcity witnessed across the country, as the Federal Government, yesterday, said it has paid N407.077 billion to oil marketers for their outstanding subsidy claims.

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, who disclosed this in a statement in Abuja stated that the Presidency had directed that the payments be made immediately in order to bring to a quick end, the lingering fuel crisis which has caused great suffering to Nigerian families and businesses.

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Recurrent Fuel Crisis And Subsidy Question

Lingering queues in petrol stations nationwide, coupled with arbitrary increase in the price of fuel, are symptoms of the abnormality in the Nigerian downstream sector.

Evidently, the threat of sanctions by the government regulatory agencies, or even the sanctions reportedly meted to some fuel marketers, are unlikely to resolve the problem. And it does appear that a workable solution to the subsidy issue may not materialise quickly, due to obvious official difficulty in taking such fundamental decisions. While there is a consensus that government should sooner than later take a position, there is no doubt that immediate, short-term and long-term measures are required to end the impasse.

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Federal Govt raises supplementary budget proposal to N574 billion to provide for fuel subsidy

To adequately provide for fuel subsidy, the Federal Government’s 2015 supplementary budget proposal earlier submitted to the National Assembly may be increased from N465.69 billion to N574 billion.

The Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udoma U. Udoma who led other ministers to a budget defence meeting with the Senate Appropriations Committee, admitted yesterday that a total sum of N108 billion meant for the payment of fuel subsidy to oil marketers for the months of October, November and December, was not captured in the N413 billion initially voted for subsidy claim.

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Federal Govt approves immediate payment of N413billion subsidy claims

The federal government has approved the payment of N413 billion to oil marketers being the outstanding payments for subsidy claims.

The approval is coming on the heels of a brewing fuel supply crisis over non-payment of the subsidy claims, leading to queues in petrol filling stations in some major cities.

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President Buhari to remove fuel subsidy

President Muhammadu Buhari plans to totally remove fuel subsidy and use the proceeds for the provision of free and compulsory primary/secondary education across the country.

The administration is also said to be working on unbundling the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, to make it more efficient in the production and delivery of products to Nigerians.

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Group warns President Buhari on planned removal of fuel subsidy

The Conscience Nigeria, a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) focused on good governance, has warned President Muhammadu Buhari not to head the advise by some stakeholders to implement total removal of subsidy and deregulation of the downstream sector.

The Executive Director, Conscience Nigeria, Mr. Tosin Adeyanju, at a press briefing in Abuja, advised Buhari not to fall into the trap being set by those he referred to as “oil mafia” through “ill-timed fuel subsidy removal”.

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