AfrOil: Nigeria will use World Bank funding to eliminate gasoline subsidy

Nigerian Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed has reported that the country has obtained an $800mn relief package from the World Bank to mitigate the impact of a plan to remove the long-standing fuel subsidy in June.

According to Ahmed, these funds will be disbursed as cash to 10mn Nigerian households. She also stated that the government intended to take various measures, including the establishment of a mass transit system, to alleviate the cost of daily commutes.

The funds are ready to be disbursed, but the government has not revealed how much each beneficiary will receive. Speaking to TVC News, Ahmed said: “We’re on course. We made that provision to enable us [an] exit fuel subsidy by June 2023. We’ve secured some funding from the World Bank. That is the first tranche of the palliatives that would enable us to give cash transfers to the most vulnerable in our society.”