The Nigeria Labour Congress has lampooned the government over the plan to pay transport support of N5000 to 40 million poor Nigeria monthly when the subsidy on petrol is removed next year.

 

The labour union said the government’s plan to remove subsidies on petrol would lead to an increase in its price.

 

The BBC Hausa Service, quoted Comrade Ayuba Wabba, the NLC president, as saying that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Malam Mele Kyari, had indicated the price of petrol would rise to N340 from February, after the removal of the subsidy. According to him, this development would not go well with Nigerians.

 

The international development financial institution, the IMF and the World Bank have been putting pressure on the Federal Government to remove the subsidy on petrol and electricity in early 2022.

 

The government’s calculations show that the petrol subsidy costs N1.8trillion a year. But the plan to pay an estimated 40 million poor Nigerian N5,000 a month would amount to N2.4 trillion. Now, people are asking the rationale behind the plan.

 

According to Ayuba, the removal of the subsidy would put more Nigerians into greater hardship.