Subsidy Removal: FG Secures $800m World Bank Fund For Palliative

Addressing State House Corespondents after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting on Wednesday at the Presidential Villa, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said the $800 million fund was for the first tranche of palliatives ready to be disbursed to 10 million households in form of cash.

The Minister said, “there is  a provision of the Petroleum Industry Act that says 18 months after the effectiveness of the Act that all petroleum products must be deregulated. That 18 month takes us to June 2023.

“Also, when we were working on the 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Appropriation Act, we made that provision to enable us to exit fuel subsidy by June 2023

“We’re on course, we’re having different stakeholder engagements, we have  secured some funding from the World Bank, that is the first tranche of palliatives that will enable us to give cash transfers to the most vulnerable in our society that have now been registered in a national social register.

“Today, that register has a list of 10 million households. 10 million households are equivalent to about 50 million Nigerians,” she said.

On how much funding the Federal Government received from the World Bank, the Minister said “$800 million for the scale-up of the National Social Investment Programme at the World Bank. And it’s been secured, it’s ready for disbursement”.

The Minister, however, noted that the Governemnt must raise more resources to enable it do more than cash transfers.

She explained that  wide-ranging negotiations are underway to deploy non-cash palliatives such as a mass transit system for workers’ daily commute.

“So there are several things that we’re still planning and working on, some we can start executing quickly, some are more medium-term implementation.

“There are a lot of discussions going on at different levels, including with members of the transition committee of the incoming government,” she said.