In November last year, Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Zainab Ahmed, disclosed that the federal government was planning to end all oil subsidies in Nigeria by June 2022 and then replace it with N5K transport grant to “poor citizens” that they believe would be most affected.
While speaking to World Bank executives during the launch of the World Bank Development Update (NDU), she complained that “the subsidies regime in the [oil] sector remains unsustainable and economically disingenuous.”
“Ahead of the target date of mid-2022 for the complete elimination of fuel subsidies, we are working with our partners on measures to cushion potential negative impact of the removal of the subsidies on the most vulnerable at the bottom 40% of the population,” she added.
In 2021 alone, the World Bank estimated that the Nigerian government spent $4.5bn, which represented 2% of its GDP or 35% of its oil and
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