Petrol Subsidy: Decision Leaves Govt With No Option Than To Borrow, Says Buhari’s Aide, Adesina

With suspension of the planned removal of petrol subsidy, the Federal Government is left with no option than to keep borrowing, the Presidency said yesterday.

“Head or tail, Nigeria will have to pay a price,” the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, said an interview on Sunrise Daily, a breakfast programme on Channels Television.

He said: “It’s either we pay the price for the removal in consonance and in conjunction with the understanding of the people, but if that will not come, the other cost is that borrowings may continue, and things may be difficult fiscally with both the states and the Federal Government.

“You know how much could have been saved if the subsidy was removed and how it could have been diverted to other areas and spheres of national life. But if you do not go that way now – and I agree that it may not be auspicious to go that way, then we have to pay a price.”

Last year, the National Assembly approved some loan requests for the government. They included $6.1 billion, $16,230,077,718 and €1,020,000,000 loan requests in July and November.

According to Adesina, oil prices have been fluctuating globally for years as a result of one reason or the other, particularly due to COVID-19 since 2019.

He stated that the price witnessed a decline as low as $30 per barrel, but later rose above $80 per barrel.

An initial announcement to remove fuel subsidy in June was rejected by individuals and groups accusing the government of inflicting more pains on Nigerians.

On Monday, the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said removing fuel subsidy at this time would be problematic, thus the decision has been suspended.

On allegations that the suspension of the fuel subsidy removal has to do with the general elections in 2023, Adesina said: “It is a valid thing (to do). But is this done because of elections next year? No.”

“It is done because as the minister (of finance) stated, the timing is not auspicious, inflation is still high. In the past eight months, we saw inflation reducing but the last month, it went up again; further consultations need to happen with all the stakeholders.”

He also debunked claims that the present administration’s proposal to extend the removal of fuel subsidy by 18 months was intended to booby-trap the next president.

Adesina said: “That was not the intention, the intention was also stated – the timing is not right, it will exacerbate the hardship of the people and the President genuinely cares.

“Politics is a part of our lives, but elections will just be one event in the life of the country. When elections come, they go, the country continues. This fuel subsidy, whether it stays or goes, is going to have a serious impact on the economy.”