Nobody Knows Quantity Of Petrol Consumption In Nigeria – Wale Edun

Minister of Finance and Coordinator of the Economy, Wale Edun, has said the actual quantity of petrol consumption in Nigeria is not known.

Wale Edun said the federal government did not make provision for fuel subsidy in the 2024 budget.

The Minister of Finance stated this while speaking on AIT Money Line with Nancy programme on Tuesday, monitored by our reporter.

Speaking on how the cost difference between the landing price and the selling price is covered, he said subsidy has gone technically.

He disclosed that some organizations are ensuring fuel availability at a lower cost than what the normal cost should have been for security reasons.

Edun said at the time the administration of President Bola Tinubu took over, fuel imported for Nigerians using subsidy was moved to other African countries. He explained that if Nigeria pays for fuel import at 40 percent, the country only gets 4 percent.

He said, “The fuel subsidy was removed on May 29, 2023 by Mr President. At that time, the poorest 40 percent, we were only getting 4 percent of the value. So basically we were not benefitting at all. It was going to just a few. Another important point to make is that nobody knows the consumption of petrol in Nigeria. We know we spend 600 million dollars every month on importation.

“The issue here is that all the neighbouring countries are benefitting. So we were buying not just for Nigeria, we were buying for the countries to the east, as far as Central Africa Republic, we are buying to the West and for the North. So we have to ask ourselves as Nigerians, how long do we want that to do that for, that is the key issue regarding this issue of petrol pricing.

“There is no fuel subsidy in the budget. That is the truth. That is the technical fact. There are organizations that have the responsibility to make sure for security reasons that there is fuel, but that doesn’t mean there is fuel subsidy in the budget. The real issue is how can we be subsidizing all our neighbours and expect the people of our own country to progress.”

When asked why government did not take action to stop fuel bought on subsidy from going to other African countries, the Minister of Finance said that would require closing the border.

“What it means is that we should block our borders. That is really it. We should block our borders. There is a level on incentive it is like trying to hold the sea back,” Edun said