The federal government has finally owned up that it is now paying subsidy on petrol nine months after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the policy has ended.
The revelation was made in Abuja, the nation’s capital on Thursday by Mrs Olu Verheijen, President’s Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Energy.
The presidential aide disclosed this to journalists while responding to posers on whether the government has returned to the old regime of subsidizing fuel.
Recall that the International Monetary Fund, IMF, recently claimed that the federal government had started paying subsidy to petrol marketers, making Nigerians to demand transparency over the matter.
Reacting to the issue yesterday, Verheijen stated that the federal government would do all it takes to cushion the effects of the current economic hardship on Nigerians.
According to the presidential aide, it’s normal for government to intervene on behalf of the citizen when the economic situation is tough, stating that such actions are globalized standards.
She said; “The subsidy was removed on May 29. However, the government has the prerogative to maintain price stability to address social unrest. They reserve the right to intervene.
“If the government feels that it cannot continue to allow prices to fluctuate due to high inflation and exchange rates, the government reserves the right to intervene intermittently and that, does not negate the fact that subsidy has been removed.
“Fuel and electricity subsidies are costly, do not reach those that most need government support and should be phased out completely.
“So, if prices are moving, they reserve the right to intervene. It started in the US during COVID. There was a lot of expansionist moves but also subsidies.
“All governments deserve that right. And so if for whatever reason the administration has reviewed that it is not the right time to have prices continue to fluctuate given the level of hardship in the country, given inflation, the government has the right to intervene intermittently,’ she stated.
The IMF had in a statement last month said, the federal government has “capped retail fuel and electricity prices” possibly to “ease the impact of rapidly rising inflation on living conditions,” “thus partially reversing the fuel subsidy removal.”
The Breton wood based world body had demanded that the subsidies on petrol and others be faced out ‘completely’.
