Buhari regime wasteful with public funds; investing in consumption: Finance Minister
Finance minister Zainab Ahmed has admitted President Muhammadu Buhari’s regime is wasteful with the national subsidy on fuel as it continues to invest the nation’s funds in consumption.
“But where we are investing it (fuel subsidy) in consumption, which is very wasteful, because how many Nigerians own cars that are benefiting from this subsidy,” said Ms Ahmed at World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update launch held in Abuja on Tuesday.
She decried the billions of naira spent on fuel subsidy, acknowledging that it is taking the country nowhere.
“This premium motor spirit (PMS) subsidy is costing us an additional N4 trillion than was originally planned. So, this is an unplanned deficit. We have gone to the National Assembly; we have gotten approvals, but the approval was simply for us to cut down on some of the investment costs,” the finance minister pointed out.
She added, “So Nigerians need to understand that this PMS subsidy we are carrying now is hurting the nation. It’s impeding the government’s ability to be able to invest in human capital development. N4.5 trillion is money that we could have invested in health or education.”
The minister also pointed out that “already we have borrowing increasing significantly and we are struggling with being able to service debt because even though revenue is increasing, the expenditure has been increasing at a much higher rate so it is a very difficult situation.”
Ms Ahmed’s groaning over Nigeria’s financial deficit came amid World Bank’s prediction that the cost of fuel subsidy would hit N5 trillion by the end of 2022.
In March, the minister had said Mr Buhari’s regime was delaying the planned removal of fuel subsidy due to pushback from Nigerians and to avoid consequences in the 2023 general elections.
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
States
Printer, 26, bags three years’ imprisonment for fraud
The Benin Division of the Edo High Court, on Thursday, sentenced a 26-year-old printer, Ufumen Victor, to three years in prison for fraud.
Rights
Land Grab: Edo widow alleges conversion of her land to burial ground
A 60-year-old widow, Esther Aimhekagbon, has accused a man, Uzama Osaretin-Alexander, of converting her land into a burial ground.
NationWide
FRSC seeks NIS collaboration to reduce road crashes
FRSC advises NIS officers to abide by the traffic rules, stating that “being an officer does not pronounce professionalism behind the wheel.”
Abuja
Suleja Jailbreak: FG mulls building new prisons with modern security features
“This could have been avoided if the right information was disseminated at the appropriate time on the structure,” said the interior minister.
Agriculture
Lagos govt urges farmers to maximise opportunities in cassava value chain
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Abisola Olusanya, said this at the fifth AgriQuest Africa Network (AQAN) Forum programme in Lagos on Thursday.
NationWide
Nigeria positioned to power clean energy future of world: Tinubu
Mr Tinubu expressed his firm commitment to improve the developmental partnership between the European Union and Nigeria.