The World Bank has cleared air over the controversial $800 million loan it approved to Nigeria as of December 2021, when the Muhammadu Buhari led administration contemplated the removal of fuel subsidy.
Nigerian articles Country Director, Dr Shubham Chaudhuri, disclosed this on Tuesday at an event organised by the World Bank to assess the nation’s economy in the last six months.
Chaudhuri revealed that the fund is a loan and not a grant as speculated, adding that the funds will be channelled into ameliorating the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable owing to the removal of fuel subsidy.
According to a Channels TV report, the loan was delayed as Former President Muhammadu Buhari soft-pedaled on the fuel subsidy removal until his last days in office.
However, the former president sent a letter to the Senate seeking approval to take a loan to the tune of $800 million from the World Bank to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.
The former Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had said that the disbursement of the fund is in light of the planned subsidy removal in June 2023.
Recall that on his inauguration on May 29, President Bola Tinubu announced the removal of the petrol subsidy.
The Nigerian Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, 48 hours after Tinubu’s declaration, announced price adjustment for petrol.
Meanwhile, the World Bank Country Director also expressed support for the Federal Government’s subsidy removal and the exchange rate unification.
According to Chaudhuri, the policy though painful remains key to rebuilding the economy of the nation.
