supplementary budget to cover mainly the 413 billion naira ($2.1
billion) of debt owed to fuel importers under a subsidy scheme, the
presidency said on Wednesday.
Buhari asked the Senate to approve 465.64 billion naira to cover
subsidies, funding for the military operation Lafiya Dole against the
Islamist insurgency in the northeast, prisoner rations and pay for
out-going and incoming legislative aides, a letter to the Senate said.
Pushing through the supplementary budget will be key to resolving
fresh fuel shortages and closing the book on debts still owed to
importers from 2014 and this year.
Subsidized imports account for roughly half of Nigeria's gasoline
needs and firms bringing in the product have not been paid since
Buhari came to power at the end of May. They are increasingly
struggling to finance their purchases with low dollar availability and
shrinking credit lines.
Fuel shortages and panic-buying have returned to major cities,
creating long queues outside retail stations. The west African nation
relies on imports for the bulk of its domestic gasoline needs owing to
a dilapidated refining system.
Under the previous administration, the supplementary budget to cover
subsidies was not approved until May and was slashed by 90 percent
against the previous year as government revenues had shrunk
dramatically with the slump in global crude prices.
Buhari, who came to power at the end of May, does not want to phase
out the costly and fraud-ridden subsidy scheme just yet at variance
with the members of his party, the All Progressives Congress, and his
minister of state for oil.
The government said two weeks ago that the remaining subsidy-related
debt would be paid.
Payments to importers have been chronically delayed and fuel shortages
were a regular occurrence under former president Goodluck Jonathan.
The current shortage is the first major one since Buhari took over.
-PMNews
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