Nigeria pays $600 million each month on fuel imports, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, revealed.
According to him, the expenditure is partly because neighbouring countries, extending to Central Africa, are benefiting from these fuel imports.
Speaking during an interview on AIT which was shared on the station’s YouTube channel on Wednesday, Edun explained that this situation prompted Bola Tinubu to eliminate the fuel subsidy, as the country lacked precise data on its domestic fuel consumption.
He said: “The fuel subsidy was removed May 29, 2023, by Tinubu, 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 be just a few.
“Another point that I think is important is that nobody knows the consumption in Nigeria of petroleum.
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We know we spend $600m to import fuel every month but the issue here is that all the neighbouring countries are benefitting.
The finance minister further clarified that the N570bn fund release to state governments was implemented in December 2023.
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