Nigeria expended over N13.69 trillion between 2005 to 2021 to finance subsidy payments, the Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, has said.

“We have outlined what needs to be done in our policy advisory, entiled: “The cost of fuel subsidy to the nation, options for policy review”, which will further provide the necessary guidance on this issue,” he stated.

Orji called for an urgent disclosure of a comprehensive welfare programme for the vulnerable, saying,

“We recommended the urgency to unveil a comprehensive Welfare Programme for the poor and the vulnerable.

“The need to support citizens in the areas of social safety nets, review of workers’ welfare, micro-credits and mass transportation has become urgent.”

Orji spoke at a programme organised by ActionAid Nigeria, in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC).

He said: “NEITI is fully aware and quite sensitive to the pains we are all passing through following the removal of the Petroleum subsidy, adding however that this fundamental policy shift is a necessary policy decision whose time has come.”

Orji noted that NEITI supports the President’s removal of petroleum subsidy because of its huge burden on the economy, depriving other sectors of the much-needed funds for development and social projects.

He said close to N4 trillion of the 2022 budget was slashed from the budget for health, education, infrastructure, etc to fund subsidy payments.

He said NEITI is aware that action is in progress, but we need to move as fast as the speed of light to ameliorate the interim negative consequences of the removal. He called on the Federal Government to urgently tackle crude oil theft.

The Executive Secretary revealed that the country lost $16.25trillion to oil theft between 2009 and 2020.

He noted that the act resulted in losing 140,000 barrels of crude oil estimated at $10.7million daily.

SOURCE: THENATION