The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has disclosed that the country currently spends $600 million monthly on fuel imports.
He attributed the high cost to neighboring countries, extending to Central Africa, benefiting from the nation’s fuel imports.
Edun shared this information during an interview on AIT’s Moneyline program, which was posted on its YouTube channel on Wednesday.
He explained that this situation was a key factor in President Bola Tinubu’s decision to remove the fuel subsidy, as the country lacks precise data on domestic fuel consumption.
According to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics, the country’s petrol import was reduced to an average of one billion liters monthly after President Bola Tinubu removed the fuel subsidy on May 29 last year.
He said, “The fuel subsidy was removed May 29, 2023, by Mr President, and at that time, the poorest of 40 per cent was only getting four per cent of the value, and basically, they were not benefitting at all. So it was going to just a few.
“Another point that I think is important is that nobody knows the consumption in Nigeria of petroleum. We know we spend $600m to import fuel every month but the issue here is that all the neighbouring countries are benefitting.
“So we are buying not for just for Nigeria, we are buying for countries to the east, almost as far as Central Africa. We are buying. We are buying for countries to the North and we are buying for countries to the West. And so we have to ask ourselves as Nigerians, how long do we want to do that for and that is the key issue regarding the issue of petroleum pricing.”
Edun emphasised that the welfare of Nigerians remained a key priority for the current administration, particularly ensuring food availability and affordability.
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