The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, Speaking at a panel session during the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#27) in Abuja on Monday, October 26, announced that the complete deregulation of the downstream oil and gas sector will start by July 2022.
She added that the Federal Government will only pay petrol subsidy in the first six months of 2022.
“In our 2022 budget, we only factored in subsidy for the first half of the year; the second half of the year, we are looking at complete deregulation of the sector, saving foreign exchange and potentially earning more from the oil and gas industry,” Ahmed said.
Meanwhile, Shubham Chaudhuri, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, also called on the nation to halt the payment of subsidies for petrol, saying the funds should be channeled into primary healthcare, basic education, and rural roads.
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