Fuel Subsidy Removal To Reduce Nigeria’s Unsustainable Debts – LCCI

The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), has said that the federal government’s planned petrol subsidy removal is one of the best economic decisions that will reduce Nigeria’s debts and tackle widespread corruption in the oil sector.

The president of LCCI, Dr Michael Olawale-Cole stated this during the Chamber’s first quarter (Q1) state of the economy conference held in Lagos.

The recent data by the Debt Management Office (DMO) puts Nigeria’s public debt at N46.25 trillion ($103.11billion) as at end-December 2022, compared to N39.56 trillion ($95.77 billion) in 2021.

Olawale-Cole said that “removal of fuel subsidies is, amongst others, expected to spur investments in domestic refining and petrochemicals and create a significant value chain for the various stakeholders. It will also release over N3 trillion per annum for social spending as well as create domestic high valued jobs rather than subsidising jobs in other countries at the expense of ours.”

He noted that though the planned removal of fuel subsidies may cause further northward movement of inflation in the short term, it is arguably one of the best economic decisions to reduce our unsustainable debts and widespread corruption in that sector.

According to LCCI president, we expect the government to roll out appropriate cushioning or palliative policies and measures before the subsidy removal in the second half of the year.

appreciate disruption in whatsoever form to the economy in the event of subsidy removal.

“The government must however take cognisance of its socio-economic implications especially with unemployment at the unwholesome rate of about 40 percent.”

He called for improve electricity supply and resolving all issues on discos profitability and reducing consumption costs and address the problem of poor generation and national grid collapse.

He added that the Chamber will continue to work towards rallying the private sector to support the implementation of the 2023 federal budget, saying “on achieving revenue targets, the MDAs and government owned enterprises can intensify their revenue mobilisation efforts in an enabling environment where the private sector thrives.

“To achieve the laudable objectives of the 2023 budget, we urge the government to sustain current efforts towards the realisation of crude oil production and export targets by strengthening the investment-friendliness of the oil and gas industry. Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are the best models to fast-track the pace of our infrastructural development.”

Also, LCCI called on the incoming government to be focused on tackling the many salient economic issues and making the most of the opportunity given to it by the Nigerian people to serve.