Subsidy Removal Fallout: Tinubu Writes Reps, Demands N500 Billion for Palliatives to Mitigate Citizens’ Hardships

President Bola Tinubu has urged the House of Representatives to modify the 2022 Supplementary Appropriations Act, allocating N500 billion to support palliative measures aimed at mitigating the consequences of fuel subsidy removal. The Speaker of the House, Tajudeen Abbas, disclosed this request during the plenary session held on Wednesday.

President Tinubu aims to obtain N500 billion from the N819,536,937,813 supplementary budget. Former President Muhammadu Buhari initially introduced this supplementary budget in 2022 to address the impact of floods on agricultural lands and road infrastructure.

The duration of the budget has been extended until December 31.

“I write to request an amendment to the 2022 supplementary appropriation Act in accordance with the attached. The request has become necessary in other to, among other things, source funds necessary to provide palliatives to mitigate the effect of the recent removal of fuel subsidy on Nigerians.

“Thus, the sum of N500 billion has been extracted from the 2022 supplementary budget of N819 billion for the provision of palliative. I hope the House will consider this request expeditiously,” the President’s letter reads.

Speaker Abbas announced that the House would deliberate on the request on Thursday.

Upon assuming office as Nigeria’s 16th leader on May 29, Mr. Tinubu made the decision to eliminate fuel subsidy, resulting in a three-fold increase in petrol prices throughout the country.

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In response to this announcement, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) instructed its outlets nationwide to sell fuel at prices ranging from N480 to N570 per liter, which is nearly a 200 percent rise from the previous price of less than N200.

Initially, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) had planned a nationwide strike to protest the subsidy removal. However, the planned strike was suspended after discussions and agreements were reached between the labor unions and the government.

While the administration has been praised for promptly addressing the petroleum subsidy issue, concerns remain about the repercussions of the removal, particularly the impact of the increased price of PMS and its ripple effect on various sectors of the country’s economy and households.