Blank NEWS Online can disclose that President Muhammadu Buhari has plans to totally remove fuel subsidy and use the proceeds for the provision of free and compulsory primary and secondary education across the country.
The federal government will set up committee to work out the modalities to achieve the set goals, our sources have revealed.
The special investigation team on subsidy claims verification have also recommended payment of the controversial N160 billion claimed by oil marketers.
The proposal, which include the provision of free meals for students as incentives for school enrolment is part of the recommendations of the transition committee put in place by President Buhari to work out a blueprint for his administration.
“The total removal of fuel subsidy has been recommended with adequate provisions for palliatives on free education and social welfare for the unemployed”, a member of the transition committee said.
It is also revealed that ex-president Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, through the finance ministry had paid a part of the subsidy claims totalling about N131 billion while the fuel supply imbroglio lasted, even as the former Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala expressed doubts over the additional N160 billion claims ascribed to exchange rate differential and interest rate charges on banks’ funding for the petroleum products imports.
She had subsequently set up a special investigative team made of representatives of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Committee (PPPRC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Debt Management Office (DMO) and the finance ministry to investigate the claims for approval of payments before her exit from office as coordinating minister Nigeria’s economy.
