Yesterday, the Nigerian federal government made a startling admission regarding the country's expenditure on fuel subsidies. It was revealed that Nigeria has spent more money on fuel subsidies over the past five years than the combined budgets for health, education, agriculture, and defense during the same period. Furthermore, the cost of petrol subsidies between 2005 and 2021 is estimated to exceed N13 trillion ($74 billion) when considering the economic and opportunity costs associated with the policy.

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Boss Mustapha, disclosed these figures during the launch of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) strategic plan for 2022-2026. Mustapha emphasized that the amount spent on subsidies is equivalent to the entirety of Nigeria's budget for critical sectors and almost the capital expenditure for a decade.

NEITI also revealed that N1.5 trillion in royalties and taxes owed to the government by companies operating in the extractive industry has been recovered, with N1.07 trillion ($2.67 billion) still outstanding. Mustapha, as the head of the Presidential Transition Council, mentioned that the council is working on strategies to manage the discomfort caused by the removal of subsidies, aiming to find the best approach to address this complex issue. He acknowledged that the actual figure could be higher if additional economic and opportunity costs were factored into the calculations.

source;leadershipng.com
https://leadership.ng/fuel-subsidy-federal-govt-spends-n13trn-surpasses-health-education-agric-defence-cumulative-budgets/