Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, said that the country presently spends $600 million each month on petroleum imports.
He ascribed the high cost to neighbouring countries, namely Central Africa, which benefit from the nation’s gasoline imports.
Edun revealed this during an interview with AIT’s Moneyline program, which aired on its YouTube channel on Wednesday.
He explained that the country’s lack of clear data on domestic fuel consumption influenced President Bola Tinubu’s decision to eliminate the fuel subsidy.
According to a National Bureau of Statistics study, President Bola Tinubu eliminated petrol subsidy on May 29 of last year, reducing the country’s petrol imports to an average of one billion litres per month.
Edun said,
“The fuel subsidy was removed May 29, 2023, by Mr President, and at that time, the poorest of 40 per cent was only getting four per cent of the value, and basically, they were not benefitting at all. So it was going to just a few.
“Another point that I think is important is that nobody knows the consumption in Nigeria of petroleum. We know we spend $600m to import fuel every month but the issue here is that all the neighbouring countries are benefitting.
“So we are buying not for just for Nigeria, we are buying for countries to the east, almost as far as Central Africa. We are buying. We are buying for countries to the North and we are buying for countries to the West. And so we have to ask ourselves as Nigerians, how long do we want to do that for and that is the key issue regarding the issue of petroleum pricing.”
Edun highlighted that the current administration’s top focus remains Nigerians’ well-being, notably the availability and affordability of food.