Nigeria’s revenue has dropped by 65% —Finance Minister

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said on Monday Nigeria’s revenue had dropped by about 65 percent.

The minister, who disclosed this at the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) programme, “Good Morning Nigeria,” said the drop in government revenue was responsible for President Muhammadu Buhari’s decision to discontinue the payment of subsidy on petrol.

She stressed that the retention of subsidy on petrol would lead to fuel scarcity in the country.

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Ahmed said: “What we have been doing is not sustainable. If we bring back fuel subsidy, we will fail because we will not be able to pay it and the problem of disputes with marketers will come back, then we will have queues again. We just cannot afford it and therefore this deregulation must be made to work.

“We appeal to Nigerians to understand that in the past when subsidy was done, we could afford to do it but right now, we cannot pay. Remember that right now our revenue has gone down by about 65 percent. So, it is not business as usual. We cannot do what we used to do anymore.”

The minister added that Nigeria is currently facing difficult times like several other countries across the world.

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