Governors of the 36 states of the federation have thrown their support to the federal government’s plan to remove fuel subsidy from 2022.

According to the governors, they will have difficulty in paying workers’ salary in 2022 if the fuel subsidy is not removed as proposed.

The Governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, said this on behalf of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum  on Tuesday, November 23, during the launch of the World Banks’ November 2021 Nigeria Development Update (NUD)report in Abuja.

He said the governors had met and agreed to support the FG including its proposed payment of N5,000 transportation grant to very poor Nigerians.

“This is why the Nigerian Governors’ Forum met and agreed to support the Federal Government’s social compact. Withdraw this subsidy by February, use the N250bn per month that would have been lost between February and May to do this conditional cash transfer that would put money in the pockets of Nigerians and alleviate not only the cost of transportation but the 2-3 per cent job inflation that is expected when the subsidy is eliminated. We cannot sustain it. We cannot continue with it.

“I don’t want to predict what will happen when 35 out of 36 states cannot pay salaries of civil servants, or even have any money to run the government. We will not have enough money to pay salaries. Already, some states are building up arrears, even oil-producing states are struggling to pay salaries.

“So, we support the plan to do conditional cash transfer for six to twelve months, N5,000 a month to the most vulnerable households. This is the position of the state governments and I have been mandated to communicate this.”

Recall that the Minister for Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, during the launch of the World Bank’s report said the FG will remove fuel subsidy from June 2022.