Buhari Pushes For Petrol Subsidy Removal, Says It’s Unsustainable

President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday pushed for the removal of fuel subsidy in 2023, saying that the policy is not sustainable considering current economic realities.

He shared the position while presenting a N19.76 trillion 2023 budget proposal to the National Assembly.

He said, “Petrol subsidy has been a recurring and controversial public policy issue in our country since the early eighties.

“However, its current fiscal impact has clearly shown that the policy is unsustainable. As a country, we must now confront this issue taking cognizance of the need to provide safety nets to cushion the attendant effects on some segments of society.”

President Muhammadu Buhari says the petrol subsidy policy is “unsustainable”, reiterating that it would go next year (2023). He also says his government is working to tackle youth unemployment.

According to the President, discontinuing the policy is necessary for the country to manage limited resources.

“As we seek to grow our government revenues, we must also focus on the efficiency of utilization of our limited resources,” he said.

“Critical steps we are taking include immediate implementation of additional measures towards reducing the cost of governance and the discontinuation of fuel subsidy in 2023 as announced earlier.”

The President, however, hinted that provisions would be made to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.

“We are however mindful of the fact that reducing government spending too drastically can be socially destabilizing, and so will continue to implement programmes to support the more vulnerable segments of society,” he said.

The N19.76 trillion proposed for the 2023 budget represents a 15.37 percent increase on the 2022 budget.