‘It is the wealthy, not ordinary Nigerians who benefit from petrol subsidy’ – Minister says

Minister of state for budget and national planning,  Clement Agba has claimed that petrol subsidy only benefits the wealthy class against majority of Nigerians.

The minister stated this on Tuesday during the leadership and governors’ discourse on open government partnership held in Abuja.

He said, “Some will say if you take out fuel subsidies the ordinary will suffer; how will the ordinary man suffer? Is it in terms of food? Vehicles that are used for moving food are heavy duty vehicles. They don’t use PMS; they use diesel and that has since been deregulated. Those that we are actually subsidising for are the very rich.”

He added that such discourse was important in helping Nigerians understand the state of the economy and seek measures to improve it.

The Group Marketing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, had in September 2020 said the government can no longer afford to pay subsidy because of the economic issues facing the country.

He added that every corruption in the downstream industry is connected to fuel subsidy