Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Dr. Zainab Ahmed, has stated that it would be prudent for the Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), led administration to begin phasing out fuel subsidies from the start of the second quarter of 2023.
Ahmed stated this during an interview on Arise TV, while attending the ongoing in Davos, Switzerland on Tuesday.
According to her, phasing off the fuel subsidy is the optimal solution.
“What will be safer is for the current administration to start removing the fuel subsidy at the beginning of the second quarter because it works better if you remove it gradually than all at once. The idea for us in the 2023 budget is that fuel subsidy costs should not exceed that N3.36 trillion, so, whether it is done completely 100% by June or otherwise, it’s the process and the cost that counts,” she said.
Prior to this, Ahmed had declared that the Buhari administration has budgeted N3,36 trillion for fuel subsidy payments in 2023, which will cover six months before the subsidy program is discontinued.
