Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed on Monday explained why the Federal Government could not stop petrol subsidy at the moment.
Lai who said now is the wrong time to remove Nigeria’s costly fuel subsidy, noted that it would lead to chaos and instability in the country.
The Minister of Information who made this known during an interview with Reuters asserted that many other nations were introducing measures to help citizens cope with high oil energy prices, stressing that Nigeria will not be an exception.
“When you consider the chaos, the social disharmony and instability such an action of abolishing subsidies would facilitate, is it worth it? I don’t think so,” Mohammed said.
The current Crude oil rally does not look to slow down anytime soon as Brent crude sold $123 on average a barrel and market conditions are forcing analysts to predict that the trend may slip into 2023, a development that does not bode well for Nigeria’s finances.
Normally, crude rally should be a windfall to a country with Africa’s biggest reserves, especially as its crude grades like Bonny Light, which sold for $126 a barrel, are highly sought after, but the biggest measure of Nigeria’s failed economic policies is that neither a rally nor a slump is enough to nurse its economy on life support back to life.
Analysts say there seems to be no end in sight for the price spike as supply struggles to keep up with demand.
