Lokpobiri Meets Media Veterans, Says Subsidy Removal Has Saved Economy, Helped Pay Salaries, Pensions

By Eniye Sunday, Yenegoa

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s decision to remove fuel subsidy has eased financial burden on federal, state and local governments.

Speaking with media veterans from the Niger Delta region at the Bayelsa State Government House, Creek Haven, Lokpobiri said subsidy removal has “regularized payment of civil servants monthly salaries, pensioners gratuity and whole a lot of financial burden” unlike in the past.

According to him, “Fuel subsidy accumulated a total of 15 billion dollars which in Nigerian currency totalled N21 trillion to subsidize fuel annually. The whole money came from the oil and gas sector. The government was losing trillions of naira on subsidy.”

He explained that the burden was unsustainable, noting that “debt service was about 97% in previous government. The government borrowed to service debt. But today, the debt service has come down drastically due to removal of fuel subsidy.”