Nigeria And The Fuel Subsidy Conundrum -By Kene Obiezu

If Nigeria`s economic woes are today well-documented it is because for many years, those charged with managing the country`s resources have been clueless and careless.

 For many years now, while Nigeria has continued to disappear  behind a thicket of debts, not enough has been done by successive administrations to make the country  self-sustaining.  The net result of this over many is a country almost brought to its knees, one which is  broke and broken.

Frightening figures

 The Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative(NEITI) recently revealed that N13.7 trillion($74.386 billion) was spent on fuel subsidy)in 15 years.

 This much was revealed by Ogbonnaya Orji the Executive Secretary of NEITI to the House of Representatives ad-hoc committee investigating fuel subsidy regime between 2013 and  2022.According to Mr. Orji, the amount was expended from 2005 to 2020.

 According to the document presented to the House committee,  a  breakdown of the subsidy  payments showed that it was N351 billion in 2005,N219.72 billion in 2006,N236.64 billion in 2007;360.18 billion in 2008, 1.98.11 billion in 2009 and N416.45 billion in  2010.In 2011 it was N1.9 trillion naira,N690 billion in 2012,N495 billion in 2013,N482 billion in  2014,N316.70 billion in 2015,N99 billion in 2016,N141.63 billion in 2017,N722.30 billion  in 2018,N578.07 billion in 2019  and finally N134 billion IN 2020.

 Only recently, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed had in her presentation of the 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper disclosed that the Federal Government was projected to spend the sum of N6.7 trillion on petrol subsidy payments in 2023. The disclosure unsurprising drew a lot of flaks from Nigerians.

 Whenever fuel subsidy has crawled into conversations, the question has remained if it is worth it, and whether by continuing the regime, Nigeria is not stuttering into economic self-destruction.

  What makes discussions and debates about   fuel subsidy so heated in Nigeria is that there is always a pool of those who propose its removal and those who oppose same.  The World Bank has repeatedly warned that Nigeria`s huge subsidy bill poses an existential crisis to the country and its more than two hundred million citizens.

 Experts have long foretold that with Nigeria`s revenue constantly dwindling, it is only a matter of time before subsidy is ditched.  Many of these experts have been consistent in maintaining that the trillions of naira spent by the country on fuel subsidy can be deployed to other creative sectors of the Nigerian economy, particularly education.

 The fear over subsidy removal has always been the impact it will have on Nigerians. This has always been a source of friction between the government and labour unions.

 The government has often sought to soft-pedal on the issue. However, it appears that the removal of subsidy is only a question of time.  The huge sums going into the payment of subsidies every year can be reapplied to other sectors of the economy so that with time Nigeria can grow into an economy that is strong enough to survive shocks of any nature.

 There will be a price to pay when subsidy is removed. But the earlier it is done, the better for everyone. The question is whether those who should take the step have enough political will to do so and whether they have it in them to do whatever it will take in the interim to ameliorate the hardship subsidy removal will bring on Nigerians.

 Kene Obiezu,

Twitter: @ kenobiezu