ADVERTISEMENT
NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s leading online newspaper. Published by Africa’s international award-winning journalist, Mr. Isaac Umunna, NEWS EXPRESS is Nigeria’s first truly professional online daily newspaper. It is published from Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and media hub, and has a provision for occasional special print editions. Thanks to our vast network of sources and dedicated team of professional journalists and contributors spread across Nigeria and overseas, NEWS EXPRESS has become synonymous with newsbreaks and exclusive stories from around the world.
The Nigerian Government yesterday moved closer towards realising its desire to totally remove fuel subsidy when the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) announced that it has adopted the recommendation of its ad hoc committee for the outright and immediate stoppage of provisions for fuel subsidy in the Federation Account.
Chairman of the States Finance Commissioners’ Forum, Mr. Timothy Odaah, told newsmen in Abuja that with the adoption of the recommendation, fuel subsidy deductions would no longer be provided for in the Federation Account.
States, according to him, would now be paid directly whatever is due to them from the account while they could use the accruals to subsidise the needs of their people.
Odaah defended the decision, saying that experiences about the fuel subsidy regime over the years showed that it benefitted the elite and managers of the funds instead of the masses.
News Express recalls that President Godluck Jonathan reaped a backlash when he removed a huge chunk of the fuel subsidy in January 2012 and had to review it following mass protests in parts of the country.
•Photo shows Chairman of States Finance Commissioners’ Forum, Mr. Timothy Odaah.
