President Bola Tinubu said on Sunday that the federal government has granted N570 billion to the 36 states to expand livelihood support for their populations.
He also claimed that Nigeria spends N2 trillion per month to buy Premium Motor Spirit, generally known as petrol, and Automotive Gas Oil, or diesel.
Tinubu stated this during a nationwide broadcast to Nigerians, where he revealed that N9.1 trillion in total fiscal revenue was accumulated in the Federal Government’s coffers during the first half of 2024, a significant increase over what was earned by the previous administration.
“Also, more than N570bn has been released to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens, while 600,000 nanobusinesses have benefitted from our nanogrants. An additional 400,000 more nanobusinesses are expected to benefit,” the president stated.
He stated that, despite Nigeria’s rich oil and gas resources, his administration encountered a country that relied solely on oil, ignoring its gas resources and subsidising fuel prices.
As a result, he stated that his administration invested in compressed natural gas to shift the narrative.
“Fellow Nigerians, we are a country blessed with both oil and gas resources, but we met a country that had been dependent solely on oil-based petrol, neglecting its gas resources to power the economy. We were also using our hard-earned foreign exchange to pay for and subsidise its use.
“To address this, we immediately launched our Compressed Natural Gas Initiative to power our transportation economy and bring costs down. This will save over N2tn a month, being used to import PMS and AGO and free up our resources for more investment in healthcare and education,” Tinubu stated.
He mentioned that his administration would distribute one million kits of extremely low or no cost to commercial vehicles that transport people and goods and who currently consume 80 percent of the imported petrol and diesel.
“We have started the distribution of conversion kits and the setting up of conversion centres across the country in conjunction with the private sector. We believe that this CNG initiative will reduce transportation costs by approximately 60 percent and help to curb inflation,” Tinubu disclosed.
While approved individuals have been importing diesel into Nigeria, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited remains the exclusive importer of petrol into the country.
Despite having Africa’s greatest oil output, Nigeria relies on imported petroleum products due to limited refining capability.
During the Sunday broadcast, Tinubu also stated that his administration was prepared to listen to and address the concerns of demonstrators participating in the statewide protest that began on August 1, 2024.
The President attributed the revenue growth in the first half of the year to measures to plug leakages, implement automation, and creatively mobilise financing, all without adding to the people’s burden.
He stated that productivity in the non-oil sector is gradually improving, reaching new heights and capitalising on the opportunities provided by the current economic situation.
He said, “In the past 14 months, our government has made significant strides in rebuilding the foundation of our economy to carry us into a future of plenty and abundance.
“On the fiscal side, aggregate government revenues have more than doubled, hitting over N9.1tn in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023 due to our efforts at blocking leakages, introducing automation, and mobilising funding creatively without additional burden on the people.
“Productivity is gradually increasing in the non-oil sector, reaching new levels and taking advantage of the opportunities in the current economic ambience,” Tinubu said.
The President highlighted that Nigeria’s debt burden had decreased, with revenue from debt service falling from 97% in 2023 to 68% in 2024.
He stated that the country has cleared genuine outstanding foreign exchange liabilities totalling $5 billion “without any adverse impact on our programs.”
According to Tinubu, debt reduction has given the government more financial independence, allowing for increased investment in critical social services like education and healthcare.
