Treasury bleeds N13tr in 16 years and Buhari dillydallies about it
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Abuja spent N13 trillion on fuel subsidy in the 16 years spanning 2005 to 2021, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, has disclosed.
He gave the figure in Abuja while unveiling the 2022-2026 Strategic Plan of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
Mustapha said the Muhammadu Buhari administration has managed fuel subsidy best among recent Presidents, including Olusegun Obasanjo and Goodluck Jonathan.
He enthused the outgoing administration would leave a robust framework for the incoming one of President-elect Bola Tinubu.
“From that policy advisory, over N13 trillion is documented to have been expended on the subsidy payment between 2005-2021.
“The figure is equivalent to Nigeria’s health, education, agriculture, and defence budget in the last five years and almost the capital expenditure for ten years between 2011 and 2020,” Mustapha stressed, per Daily Post.
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Buhari lacks political guts to remove fuel subsidy, says ex-TUC boss
Buhari lacks the political will to remove fuel subsidy, so it is not surprising the President has now come clean about it, former Trade Union Congress (TUC) President Peter Esele argued earlier in May.
The federal government in April suspended the removal via the National Economic Council (NEC) despite the fact it would save the economy more than N6 trillion.
Esele, also former Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) President, said Buhari would have removed the fuel subsidy one year into his administration if he wanted to phase it out.
Buhari ‘beating about the bush’
Esele argued on Channels Television that Buhari has been beating about the bush on fuel subsidy removal in his eight years in office because he lacks the political will to do it.
“I think this government, if they wanted to remove fuel subsidies, would have done it in the first year of their administration when they had huge political capital to expend, but since it was not done, what they have been doing over the years is kicking the can down the room,” he said.
Industry data shows the Buhari administration would have spent about N10 trillion on fuel subsidies between May 2015 and 29 May 2023.