MINISTER OF FINANCE CLAIMS THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES NOT WISH TO REMOVE FUEL SUBSIDY

The Federal Government has assured the populace that it has no plans to remove fuel subsidy. Although queues are beginning to emerge in filling stations in some parts of the country.

The Minister of Finance, Ms Zainab Ahmed, during a ministerial press briefing at the 2019 International Monetary Fund and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC. Present in the mm meeting was the Minister of Budget and National Planning, Senator Udo Udoma and the Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele.

It should be recalled that the Managing Director, International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, last week called on the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy, saying it was the right thing to do.

Lagarde had said that with the low revenue mobilisation that existed in Nigeria in terms of tax to Gross Domestic Product, it was important for the country to remove fuel subsidies and move available funds into improving health, education, and infrastructure, among others.

Days after Lagarde’s call for fuel subsidy removal, fuel queues resurfaced in Nigeria and worsened as of Saturday.

In view of this, the finance minister explained that the Federal Government was not anywhere near subsidy removal.