The Federal Government has gotten $800 million loan from the World Bank under the National Social Investment Programme as part of the steps taken to provide ‘social welfare package’ for Nigerians ahead of the removal of subsidy on petrol by June 2023.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned the Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Hajiya Zainab Ahmed, announced this on Wednesday while talking to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
She said the fund which had been secured has been made ready for disbursement.
‘The second question on exit of fuel subsidy, this is a commitment in the Petroleum Industry Bill. There is a provision that says that 18 months after the effectiveness of the PIA , all petroleum products must be deregulated, and the 18 months takes us to June 2023.
Also, when we were working on the 2023 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Appropriation Act, we made that provision to enable us exit fuel subsidy by June 2023.
We’re on course, we’re having different stakeholder engagements, we’ve secured some funds from the World Bank, that is the first tranche of palliatives that will enable us give cash transfers to the most vulnerable in our society that have now been registered in a national social register. Today that register has a list of 10 million households. 10 million households are equivalent to about 50 million Nigerians.
But we also have to raise more resources to enable us do more than just the cash transfers and also in our engagements with the various stakeholders, the various kinds of tasks that we have go beyond the requirement of just giving cash transfers. Labour, for example, might be looking for mass transit for its members.
So, there are several things that we’re still planning and working on, some we can start executing quickly, some are more medium-term implementation’ she said.
Commenting about the loan gotten from the World Bank for the execution of the planned exit, she said ‘$800 million for the scale up of the National Social Investment Programme at the World Bank has been gotten and it is secured and ready for disbursement’.
The minister was also asked if the Buhari administration had been discussing this issue with the incoming administration?
‘There are a lot of discussions going on at different levels, including with members of the transition committee of the incoming government’ she submitted- Team@orientactualmags.com
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