Africa ( Commonwealth Union) _ In order to increase its national social program as it gets ready to phase out costly fuel subsidies in June, Nigeria has received $800 million from the World Bank.
The biggest economy in Africa has set aside 3.36 trillion naira ($7.3 billion) for fuel subsidies that will last through mid-2023. Even though it costs more than healthcare and education put together, there are no preparations for the cost after that point. To lessen the impact of the elimination of subsidies on the most disadvantaged segments of society, the government is considering cash transfers and public transit buses for workers.
The government has reportedly designated ten million families, or 50 million people, as part of its vulnerable list, and there are still a number of schemes in the works, according to the finance minister.
The World Bank anticipated in 2021 that the COVID-19 problem would cause over 11 million Nigerians to live below the poverty line by 2022, bringing the overall number of poor people in the nation to over 100 million. More than half of the projected 200 million people are represented by this number. Currently, the abolition of gasoline subsidies is being discussed at many levels of government. Involved in these discussions is the upcoming Bola Tinubu administration.
Chris Ngige, the minister of labor, has proposed that public sector employees receive wage hikes under Tinubu’s incoming administration, which takes office in May after Buhari’s exit, after the termination of the fuel subsidy in June. Many Nigerians consider inexpensive, government-subsidized fuel to be one of the few advantages they receive from the state, despite the fact that the country’s government receives billions of dollars annually from oil exports. This is a result of the government’s failure to offer necessary services like security and energy.
