Federal Government spends $600m monthly on fuel importation – Edun

According to Wale Edun, the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, the nation currently spends $600 million a month on petroleum imports.

He blamed the high price on neighboring nations—including Central Africa—that profit from the country’s gasoline imports.

In an interview that was uploaded to AIT’s YouTube page on Wednesday, Edun provided this information. The interview was conducted for the Moneyline show.

Given that the nation lacks accurate data on domestic gasoline usage, he clarified that this circumstance had a significant role in President Bola Tinubu’s decision to eliminate the fuel credit.

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.