………Finance minister contradicts Presidency, says food prices rising
The Minister of Finance , Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says Nigeria ’ s revenue has dropped by about 65 per cent .
She said this necessitated the decision of the President Muhammadu Buhari to discontinue the payment of petrol subsidy .
Ahmed said this on NTA ’ s ‘Good Morning Nigeria ’ programme on Monday which was monitored by our correspondent.
She said if the petrol subsidy returns, it would lead to fuel scarcity because the government would not be able to pay marketer.
The minister stated , “ What we have been doing is not sustainable . If we bring back fuel subsidy , we will fail because we will not be able to pay it and the problem of disputes with marketers will come back , then we will have queues again . We just cannot afford it and therefore this deregulation must be made to work .
“ We appeal to Nigerians to understand that in the past when subsidy was done , we could afford to do it but right now , we cannot pay . Remember that right now our revenue has gone down by about 65 per cent. So , it is not business as usual . We cannot do what we used to do anymore. ”
She said Nigeria is currently facing difficult times like many other countries around the world .
The minister stated that the price of petrol would henceforth be determined by the price of crude oil .
When asked if subsidy would return if the price of crude oil bounces back to how it was in previous years , Ahmed said it was unlikely that would happen .
She, however , said the decision remains that subsidy would not return .
Also the Minister of Finance , Zainab Ahmed, says food prices are indeed going up . This is contrary to claims by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity , Garba Shehu, who said last week that food prices were dropping
She, however , said it was unlikely that the prices of food would rise further because of the increase in the price of petrol, adding that most trucks conveying agricultural produce use diesel and not petrol.
Ahmed said it would be good if subsidy could be targeted at certain sectors and not to all Nigerians as was done in the previous administration.
Responding to a question , she said , “ It is true that food prices are going up and as I said earlier on , sensible subsidy is the one that is done on production, not on consumption because when you use gasoline in your car , you burn it and you have to put it in your car again and burn it.
“ But if you now change the regime and say any truck that carries food or produce, the diesel price is subsidised , you are subsidising production because it means food items get to the market cheaper but as long as you are subsidising consumption , whether it is fuel or electricity, there will always be the propensity for gain in the system and then there is always the fact that you are subsiding everybody and it is not everybody that needs it. ”
The President ’ s spokesman had said last week that food prices were on the decline and even berated a Channels Television guest for saying otherwise .
Shehu had said , “ To say that the prices of food isn’ t coming down, I think the scholar has detached himself from the market because we sat through the meeting of the National Food Security Council and we heard presentations by experts – people who had surveyed the markets .
“ As of yesterday ( Thursday) , in the morning of the meeting, go and check the index in markets . For instance in Kano , millets that had gone up to N 24, 000 has now gone down to N 12, 000, N 13, 000. Rice that had been N 25, 000 is now N 20, 000. Corn, maize is now N 18, 000 for the old stock and N 14, 000, N 15, 000 for the new stock .
“ So , to say that there is no change in the prices is to show one is completely detached from what is happening in the country. ”
