Nigeria’s Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed has revealed that President Muhammadu Buhari had no choice but to cut fuel subsidy because the country’s revenue has dropped dramatically by at least 65 percent.
The Minister who spoke during a live television programme stated that there would be fuel scarcity if the Federal Government bows to pressure and restores subsidy on petrol.
She stated that government would not be able to pay fuel marketers and that would create another round of crisis.
According to the minister;
“What we have been doing is not sustainable. If we bring back fuel subsidy, we will fail because we will not be able to pay it and the problem of disputes with marketers will come back, then we will have queues again. We just cannot afford it and therefore this deregulation must be made to work.
She said Nigerians should try to understand that while the Federal Government could afford to subsidize petrol in the past, present economic realities can no longer sustain such expenses.
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She stated that the price of petrol will now be determined by the international price of crude oil.
“We appeal to Nigerians to understand that in the past when subsidy was done, we could afford to do it but right now, we cannot pay. Remember that right now our revenue has gone down by about 65 per cent. So, it is not business as usual. We cannot do what we used to do anymore.”
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