Economic experts have classified pensioners and public servants as those critical to benefit from fuel subsidy removal amid other economic issues.
Dr Andrew Nevin, the Chief Economist, PriceWaterHouseCoopers (PwC), said this in a report on Friday from the Nairametrics Q2 2023 Economic Outlook Webinar.
Nevin who commended the Nigerian government for removing the fuel subsidy said it was hampering performance in other aspects of the Nigerian economy.
He noted that the culture of not being able to pay pensioners may be stopped when the proceeds of the fuel subsidy removal were realised.
“Those who have lost from fuel subsidy are the pensioners and the state employees, as state governments cannot pay their minimum wage.
“Those groups are going to benefit immediately from the removal of the fuel subsidy,” he said
Nevin said that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. had not made any transfers to the federation account since 2022 due to fuel subsidy payments of about N400 billion monthly.
He urged young Nigerians to look at the fuel subsidy removal as an opportunity to look out for the healthcare and educational sectors and get adequate training that strategically placed them for jobs globally.
Also, the Head, Economic Research/Intelligence, Coronation Merchant Bank, Ms Chinwe Egwim, advised young Nigerians to focus on and take advantage of the opportunities in capital market dynamics.
Egwim said that the fuel subsidy removal should be able to support Nigeria’s revenue performance, even though there would be an inflationary impact from the policy, and purchasing power would be eroded in the short term.