The federal government has designed measures to cushion the negative impact of the removal of the subsidies on the most vulnerable 40% of the population ahead of the target date of mid-2022 for the complete elimination of fuel subsidies.

One of such measures would be to institute a monthly transport subsidy in the form of a cash transfer of N5,000 to between 30 to 40 million deserving Nigerians.

Minister of Finance Budget and National Planning Mrs Zainab Ahmed made this disclosure in Abuja today at the launch of the Nigeria Development Update

According to the finance ministry, “with the expansion of social protection policies during the pandemic, the government has an opportunity to phase out subsidies such as the PMS subsidy while utilizing cash transfers to safeguard the welfare of poor and middle-class households”.

To this end, the government she said “intends to accelerate our structural reforms, particularly in the power sector, in governance, in the business environment to unlock the huge potentials of the economy, scale-up social safety net and deepen financial inclusion to reduce poverty and inequality gaps”.