The Federal Government of Nigeria will be saving N8tn annually from the fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate unification policies.

The disclosure came from Taiwo Oyedele, the chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, during a panel session at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 2024 Economic Outlook and Budget Analysis.

In May, during his inauguration ceremony, President Bola Tinubu declared the removal of the fuel subsidy, which had traditionally kept fuel prices low for Nigerians.

In just four months following the removal, the Nigerian government reported a savings of N1.45 trillion.

In June, the administration also floated the naira to allow banks and other forex market actors to trade the currency freely.

According to Oyedele it was critical for the government to spend the amount saved from the two policies to alleviate the hardships faced by the average Nigerian.

What he said:
“The Nigerian people made sacrifices as a result of the fuel subsidy removal of the government; that is N4tn savings a year. We did naira floatation. It is not perfect. We are also saving another N4tn. So we are having about roughly N8tn transferred from the private pockets of the people to the government, “

“…can we be intentional in spending this N8tn to make sure that it impacts the people most positively? Starting with the multidimensional poverty. why is it that more than 133 million people in Nigeria are living in multidimensional poverty? So these are the conversations we are having now. We want to build a platform where we can track how these monies are being spent, “ he stated

Source: BI