The Nigerian government has not decided on when it will remove oil subsidy, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said on Thursday. She said the government was still engaged in dialogue with all opinion groups concerning the issue, after which the President will decide on the next line of action. ‘It is important to continue this dialogue…so that when the phase-out happens, Nigerians can see what it (the government) is trying to do with that money,’ the Minister said at a town hall meeting in the economic capital city of Lagos.
‘All the opinions will be factored into how to go forward,’ she said, disputing media reports that the subsidy will take off 1 April 2012.
The removal of fuel subsidy has become a hot rod issue in Nigeria since the government announced its intention to remove the subsidy, which it says is worth 1.3 trillion naira this year alone.
Workers’ unions, opposition parties and ordinary citizens are opposed to the removal of subsidy, saying it will further impoverish the citizenry.
But the government countered by saying the subsidy is not sustainable, and promising that
funds realized from the removal of subsidy would be used for infrastructural development.