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Federal Government spends $600m monthly on fuel imports – Edun
The Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, has revealed that Nigeria spends a whopping $600m every month on fuel importation. This huge expense is due to neighboring countries benefiting from Nigeria’s fuel imports.
According to Edun, the high import bill is a result of Nigeria’s fuel imports catering to countries beyond its borders, including those in Central Africa.
President Bola Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023, because the country didn’t know the exact amount of fuel consumed internally.
Edun explained that the poorest 40% of the population only benefited from 4% of the subsidy, making it ineffective.
He stated, “The fuel subsidy was removed May 29, 2023, by Mr. President, and at that time, the poorest of 40 percent was only getting four percent of the value, and basically, they were not benefitting at all.”
Edun emphasized that Nigeria’s fuel importation is not just for domestic consumption but also benefits neighboring countries.
He said, “We are not buying just for Nigeria, we are buying for countries to the east, almost as far as Central Africa. We are buying. We are buying for countries to the North and we are buying for countries to the West. And so we have to ask ourselves as Nigerians, how long do we want to do that for and that is the key issue regarding the issue of petroleum pricing.”
The government’s priority is to ensure food availability and affordability, especially for the vulnerable. Edun stated that there is a concerted effort to ensure homegrown food is available. He also mentioned that a window has been opened for importation to drive down prices and make food available.
However, he assured that importation would only be permitted after exhausting local supplies to avoid undermining local farmers.
Regarding debt management, Edun clarified that the government has not relied on Central Bank financing. Instead, market instruments have been used to manage debts.
He explained, “We have not gone to the central bank to say, please lend the government money to pay its debt, to pay its salaries. That’s Ways and Means. We have not gone. In fact, we have used market instruments to pay down what we owed, and that is a very, very germane aspect of having a strong economy.”