The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has stated that Nigeria presently spends $600 million each month on petroleum imports.
Wale Edun ascribed the excessive expense on neighbouring countries, namely Central Africa, that benefit from Nigeria’s fuel imports.
Edun revealed this information in an interview with AIT’s Moneyline show on Wednesday, August 7.
He added that President Bola Tinubu’s decision to eliminate the fuel subsidy was heavily impacted by the country’s lack of precise data on domestic fuel usage.
According to a National Bureau of Statistics data, Nigeria’s petrol imports have been decreased to an average of one billion litres per month since President Bola Tinubu eliminated the gasoline subsidy on May 29 last year.
“The fuel subsidy was removed on May 29, 2023, by Mr. President, and at that time, the poorest 40 percent of the population was only getting four percent of the value, and basically, they were not benefiting at all. So it was going to just a few,” Edun said.
He further elaborated, “Another point that I think is important is that nobody knows the consumption in Nigeria of petroleum. We know we spend $600 million to import fuel every month, but the issue here is that all the neighboring countries are benefiting. So we are buying not just for Nigeria, but for countries to the east, almost as far as Central Africa. We are buying for countries to the North and 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 is still a top priority for the current administration, particularly assuring food availability and affordability.
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