Zainab Ahmed: $800m palliative for petrol subsidy removal awaiting n’assembly approval

Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget, and national planning, says the $800 million facility secured from the World Bank as part of its post-subsidy palliatives is awaiting approval by the national assembly.

Ahmed disclosed this over the weekend while speaking with journalists on the sidelines of the just-concluded International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank spring meetings in Washington DC, United states.

The federal government had said it would end under-recovery payments in June 2023, despite allocating N3.35 trillion for subsidy.

Earlier in the month, Ahmed had explained that the $800 million received from the bank would be disbursed to the 10 million households considered to be most vulnerable, to cushion the effect of the planned subsidy removal.

Giving updates on the funds, the minister said the initial duration of the palliative was six months, noting that each household (10 million) would receive N5,000 each for the period of six months.

The minister said the newly established presidential transition council (PTC) would conduct an assessment, and if the relief was insufficient, the country might need to raise more funds to be able to cover more people, extend the deadline, or increase the amount.

“The $800 million has been negotiated and approved by the federal executive council (FEC) and we now have a request before the parliament for approval. And once the parliament approves it, we will roll it out,” she said.

“We have also been doing preparatory work side by side along the approval process. And that includes the building of the social register which will be used for the electronic transfers of the funds.

“We needed to have this ready because when the government eventually removes fuel subsidy, there will be an immediate transport palliative that will be provided to the most vulnerable members of our society who have been identified, registered, and now contained in our national social register.

“This effort is led by the ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management, and social development. They developed that register with the support of the World Bank. The register has about 10 million households and that is an equivalent of 50 million Nigerians.”

Meanwhile, during the announcement of the post-subsidy palliative, the minister had said the $800 million was for the scale-up of the national social investment programme (NSIP) at the World Bank.

The loan facility is said to be an agreement between the federal government and the International Development Association of the World Bank, signed on August 16, 2022, by Ahmed and Shubham Chaudhuri, country director of the bank for Nigeria.

It has three components: economic shock responsive cash transfer ($600 million); extended regular cash transfer (ER-CT) for the poor and the vulnerable ($147 million); and delivery system strengthening and project management ($53 million).