OSBC Osun State Broadcasting Corporation
Some Senators have said the National Assembly would not allow President Muhammadu Buhari to end the proposed subsidy removal by the end of his tenure in June 2023.
The lawmakers said discontinuing the policy in June would create a serious crisis for the new administration that would take over from Buhari.
The PUNCH reported that the President on Friday presented to the joint session of the National Assembly N20.51trillion for the 2023 fiscal year where he mentioned that fuel subsidy would be removed after the first six months in 2023.
The 2023 – 2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper had proposed N3.6trn in the 2023 Budget for fuel subsidy, from January to June.
The Joint Senate Committee on Finance and Economic Planning which worked on the document slashed the N3.6trn subsidy proposal to N1.7trn but the Senate at plenary rejected it.
However, the House of Representatives approved the recommendations of its committee which is N1.7 trillion.
But presenting the 2023 budget estimates to the joint session of the two chambers of the National Assembly last Friday, Buhari proposed that the subsidy regime should end with his administration on May 29, 2023.
Some senators who spoke on the development said the federal parliament would extend the terminal date for the subsidy removal to the end of 2023.
They noted that stopping the subsidy at the time a new administration would be taking over power, could create a lot of crisis.
The senators pledged to rework the fiscal document to make sure that the terminal date for the discontinuation of subsidy payment was shifted to December 2023.
