Falana: World Bank, IMF Pressured Nigeria Into Fuel Subsidy Removal
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has accused the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) of pressuring the Nigerian government to abolish petrol subsidies.
Speaking on Channels Television, Falana argued that no country in the world has completely removed subsidies, noting that developed nations still support key sectors such as agriculture, electricity, and transport.
“There’s no way you can remove subsidies completely. Even in the United States, United Kingdom, and France, governments subsidise critical areas of people’s lives,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria’s fuel subsidy removal was not a policy born out of domestic economic planning but rather an external condition imposed by international financial institutions.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had announced the end of petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023, during his inauguration speech. Around the same period, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) unified all segments of the foreign exchange market. Both policy shifts have since driven inflation to record levels, worsening living conditions across the country.
On the federal government’s plan to introduce a five percent fuel surcharge, Falana warned that the move would further deepen economic hardship. He explained that under the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency (FERMA) Act of 2007, the government was already mandated to deduct a five percent user charge from fuel sales, with 40 percent earmarked for federal roads and 60 percent for state roads.
Falana revealed that despite deductions being made between 2007 and 2011, FERMA confirmed that no remittances were ever received from the government. By 2022, the Senate also reported that over ₦1 trillion was still owed to the agency.
“The money was deducted but not remitted. Before introducing any new surcharge, the government must explain what happened to those earlier collections,” he said, warning that fresh charges would amount to multiple taxation.
The lawyer also condemned the dollarisation of local transactions, stressing that it is illegal for businesses to reject payments in naira.
