FG should reject IMF pressure to remove fuel, electricity subsidy, says Falana
By Jeffrey Agbo
Human rights activist and lawyer, Femi Falana, has advised the Nigerian government not to listen to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which is advocating the removal of subsidies on petrol and electricity.
In a statement on Saturday, Falana, who is also the chairman of Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), described the IMF’s prescriptions as “dangerous”.
The lawyer said the international “intruder” should be questioned for applying different standards to Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
“Our economic managers should be wary of the sort of lectures they receive from the IMF on the matter of subsidies given the realities in some advanced capitalist economies,” Falana said.
He recalled: “Three days ago, the IMF directed the Bola Tinubu administration to remove the pump price of fuel and electricity tariffs without any further delay on the grounds that “current subsidized rates are thought to be significantly below the actual market prices. By phasing out these subsidies, the government would allow fuel and electricity prices to align more closely with their true market value, potentially leading to increased costs for consumers.
“Barely 24 hours later, the Minister of Power, Mr. Adebayo Adelabu said that Nigeria could not continue to subsidise electricity, adding that the nation must begin to move towards a cost-effective tariff model, as the country is currently indebted to the tune of 1.3 trillion naira to generating companies (GenCos) and 1.3 billion dollars owed gas companies.
“It is doubtful if the neoliberal ideologues in the government are aware of the fact that on January 30, 2024, the IMF warned the UK Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt against cutting taxes, arguing that that country needs to curb public borrowing and prioritise spending in areas such as health, education and tackling climate change.
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“Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF chief economist, told the Financial Times that the UK’s focus should be on ‘the path towards a fiscal consolidation’ despite expectations that Hunt would cut taxes at his spring Budget.
“Hunt should be ‘trying to rebuild fiscal buffers . . . in the context in which there are important spending needs’, Gourinchas said, rather than add to the £20bn of personal and business tax cuts delivered in November. We would rather wish they would not do this type of tax cuts, and that they would instead focus on both addressing the spending needs and on the path towards fiscal consolidation.”
Falana also recalled that sometime in November 2023, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said that President Bola Tinubu stopped the implementation of a hike in electricity tariff and insisted that subsidy be paid on power consumed nationwide.
“Adelabu said then ‘Tariffs should have been raised months back, but Mr. President said until we can achieve regular and incremental power supply we can’t touch the tariff.’
“The Minister also said ‘But for political reasons and empathy, you cannot cause additional burden on Nigerians.’ We just had the removal of the fuel subsidy, we are talking about the exchange rate skyrocketing, galloping inflation, and so many others that bring hardship to the people.
“On January 1, 2024, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) equally dismissed the widespread rumours of an increase in electricity.
“In the same vein, on February 8, 2024, the Nigerian state oil company the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited said that it had no plans to raise petrol prices after a second devaluation of the local naira currency in less than a year, following speculation that it could increase prices to recover some of its import costs.
‘The NNPC — the sole importer of petrol because local private firms are unable to obtain foreign currency — urged Nigerians to disregard the speculation about price rises, adding that “there are no plans for an upward review of the (petrol) price.”
Falana said the IMF anti-subsidy campaign in Nigeria should be flatly rejected.