Fuel subsidy: We're only guiding against Greece experience ' Okonjo-Iweala

THE Co-odinating Minister of Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Monday, declared that the Federal Government's decision to remove fuel subsidy was to guide against the kind of financial mess that happened to the Greek economy, saying that "we just don't want to mortgage our future now."This is just as the chairman of Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission, (RMAFC), Mr Elias Mbam, maintained that, "if the subsidy regime is to remain, it would require concurrent appropriation by states and local government councils," adding that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) should be passed into law without delay so as to facilitate the deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry.Both government officials spoke during a meeting with the House of Representatives ad hoc committee on the monitoring of subsidy regime, led by Honourable Farouk Lawan.While addressing the House committee, Dr Okonjo-Iweala accused some unnamed Nigerians of providing mischievous information to discredit the government in its resolve to remove subsidy on fuel.Stressing that the country was not broke, Okonjo-Iweala said,"we have never said that the country is broke. What we are saying is that we are spending far more than what we are making as a country. We are piling up domestic debts. If we do not pay as at when due it means we will be hurting the economy."We are just trying to watch our spending and not pile up domestic debt, we don't want what happened in Greece to happen to us. We just don't want to mortgage our future now. Subsidy removal on fuel is not a question of being broke; it is a question of saving for the future.On his part, Mbam said, "there is no doubt that funding subsidy is becoming a heavy burden on government and the economy. Presently, the funding is being deducted from source while only the balance is remitted to the Federation Account for distribution. This, by implication, reduces the distributable pool to the three tiers of government thereby affecting their capacity to perform their statutory responsibilities."He equally added that, "as of now, the management of subsidy is not clearly defined between the NNPC, PPRA, Ministry of Petroleum Resources and Ministry of Finance. This has created
Click here to read full news..