No plan to remove fuel subsidy now — FG

The federal government has again clarified its stance on the removal of fuel subsidy, saying it had no plan to do so in the immediate future.

The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, said this on Sunday at the briefing by the Nigerian delegation on the outcome of their meetings with investors and institutions at the IMF/World Bank meetings in Washington DC.

Mrs Ahmed spoke in reaction to the IMF’s advice to the federal government to remove fuel subsidy, which might have led to panic buying in the country.

Fuel queues have in the past few days appeared in many parts of Nigeria including Osun State and the Nigerian capital, Abuja.

The state oil company, NNPC, has largely blamed the queues on panic buying saying it has enough fuel in circulation to last the country about a month.

The fuel queues are also believed to have been spurred by the rumour of a planned removal of petrol subsidy; a rumour the minister clarified.

“There is no imminent plan to remove subsidy,” she said.

“IMF said that fuel subsidy is better removed so that we can use the resources for other important sectors.

“In principle, It’s a good suggestion. But in Nigeria, we don’t have any plans to remove fuel subsidy at this time because we have not yet designed buffers that will enable us (to) remove the subsidy and provide cushions for our people.

“So there is no plan to remove fuel subsidy.

“We will be working with various groups to find an alternative if we have to remove it. We are not yet at the point of removing fuel subsidy yet,” she said.