The Nigerian Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has explained that the country has bein spending a total of $600m on fuel importation monthly.
He made the revelation during a chat with a journalist on Wednesday. He explained that the high amount is due to the level of smuggling to neighbouring countries; he listed Central Africa as one of the benefiting countries from the importation.
He noted that such a scenario has contributed to the country’s president, Bola Tinubu, to remove the fuel subsidy; the minister also noted that the total amount of fuel consumed in the country has not been able to be determined.
According to a recent report published by the National Bureau of Statistics, the importation of petrol in the country has been downed by one billion litres monthly since the president announced on May 29th, 2023, to remove the fuel subsidy.
He elaborated that several countries in North and West Africa have been benefiting from the fuel importation in the country. According to him, it was important to think inward about the long-term feasibility of the process. The minister established that the president took a bold step to stop the fraud.
Edun noted that the decision was important because the country needed to stop the economic fraud that had impacted its economy in the past. He also noted that the welfare of the country’s vulnerable people has always been the interest of the present government.
He noted that the government has taken major steps to tackle the current problem by making food available and affordable.
Speaking on the release of N570bn to state governors, he noted that the implementation had been done since December 2023. He explained that removing fuel subsidies has made states and states receive more money from the Federal government.
