Business
Nigeria joins Ghana in the removal of fuel subsidies
Consumers in Nigeria find themselves having to line up for hours whenever events affecting the price or distribution of fuel trigger panic buying or hoarding. Nigerians rely heavily on fuel not only for their cars, but also to power the generators that many homes and businesses use to compensate for the nation’s unreliable power supply. They consume more than 9 million gallons (about 35 million liters) of fuel per day, according to a report from the regulatory agency.
The Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC), declined to immediately comment, but had previously said it would fight any attempt to lift the subsidy.
Potential unrest over the subsidy removal would likely add to Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan‘s security woes after he declared a state of emergency Saturday in parts of the country affected by a growing Islamist insurgency.
In a country where people see little benefit from the country’s staggering oil wealth, a culture of distrust has come to define the relationship between the people and their government.
However, the country’s respected economic team has promised that things will be different.
“Over and over, promises have been broken,” said Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, a former World Bank official, at a recent conference held in Lagos. “Over and over, they have not seen the implementation they want take place. This is different,” she said.
Ms. Okonjo-Iweala has been pushing for the removal and mentioned lifting subsidies during her screening by the Nigerian senate before her appointment as finance minister with extended powers. Analysts believe she expects the move will sanitize the sector of the industry responsible for selling and distributing fuel and make it more efficient.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press
