We are not in a situation where we will wake up one day and just remove subsidy. We have to educate the people, we have to show Nigerians what the replacement for those subsidies will be.
Zainab Ahmed, Nigeria's Finance Minister, says the government would make the process of removing fuel subsidy gradual.
She stated this in response to the position of the International Monetary Fund (IMF’s) on the need for the government to consider removing the fuel subsidy and channel the resources into developing the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of the IMF/World Bank Spring meetings in Washington D.C, Ahmed agreed with the IMF's position, but stated that the government needs to take certain steps first.
She said: “The advice from the IMF on fuel subsidy removal was a good one, which will be implemented in a manner that is both successful and sustainable. We are not in a situation where we will wake up one day and just remove subsidy. We have to educate the people, we have to show Nigerians what the replacement for those subsidies will be.
"So, we have a lot of work to do. We also need to understand that you don’t remove large amounts of subsidy in one go. It has to be gradual and the public has to be well informed on what you are trying to do”.