Subsiding Negatively Affecting Economy, Must Be Removed- El-Rufai

Kaduna state governor, Nasir El-Rufai has asked the federal government to end the costly petrol subsidy which has negatively affected Nigeria’s economy.

The governor spoke on Tuesday in Abuja during a panel session at a policy deliberation themed ‘How Nigeria Can Build a Post-Oil Economic Future’.

The event was jointly organised by the Africa Programme of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and Agora Policy, an Abuja-based think tank.

El-Rufai said there is a need to end petrol subsidy and to be pragmatic about solutions to the country’s problems instead of delaying.

He recalled that in 2021, the national economic council (NEC) gave a committee he chaired an assignment to work out a framework on what to do with the resources if subsidy was removed.

He listed the components of its recommendation to include a framework on investments in security, social protection, infrastructure, health, education, among others.“In 2021, the federal government’s budget for road was N200 billion and in 2021 we were projecting to spend N1.2 trillion on subsidy and we saw the danger and I called for its removal.

“We have a framework and the economic council agreed for it to be withdrawn because we had a clear plan on where the money should go which includes federal, state and local government for interventions.

“It is still on and currently we are looking at N6 trillion on subsidy but go and check the national budget on infrastructure, health and education, it is not up to that and that does not make any sense. So, we need to end the subsidy.”

“We worked with experts and the World Bank and came out with a report on what to do with the resources which would be transparently explained to Nigerians,” the Kaduna governor said.