The Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has disclosed that the Federal Government is spending $600 million monthly on fuel imports to meet the local demand amid lingering challenges in the downstream market.
Edun, who made this disclosure during an interview on AIT, said the government was importing fuel for local consumption but that abuses in the importation were diverting the fuel to other countries in Africa, thereby making it impossible to determine the actual daily fuel consumption in the country.
According to him, the ugly situation is a key factor in President Tinubu’s decision to remove the fuel subsidy, as the country lacks precise data on domestic fuel consumption.
The minister recalled that the fuel subsidy was removed on May 29, 2023 and as of then, the poorest of 40% was only getting 4% of the value, and almost not benefitting anything at all as just a few people were benefitting from the fiscal regime,.
