They are all policy proposals that are still subject to review at the highest level of government. Indeed, one has 'draft' clearly written on it," Mr Onanuga said.
The Nigerian government on Thursday said the leaked documents on fiscal policy proposals by the Nigerian government are not official.
The government said this in a statement by the Special Adviser to President Bola Tinubu on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
The reaction came amid reports that the government spent N3.6 trillion on subsidy in 2023.
Earlier on Thursday, PREMIUM TIMES reported that a draft copy report of the Accelerated Stabilisation and Advancement Plan (ASAP) presented to President Bola Tinubu by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, on Tuesday said fuel subsidy is projected to reach N5.4 trillion by the end of 2024.
"At current rates, expenditure on fuel subsidy is projected to reach N5.4 trillion by the end of 2024. This compares unfavourably with N3.6 trillion in 2023 and N2.0 trillion in 2022," the report said.
Reaction
But in its reaction, Mr Onanuga said leaked drafted copies of two fiscal policy documents in circulation that are being given wide coverage have not yet received approval as an official document of the federal government of Nigeria.
"The attention of the presidency has been drawn to two fiscal policy documents in circulation that are being given wide coverage by the mainstream media and social media platforms.
"One of the documents titled Inflation Reduction and Price Stability (Fiscal Policy Measure etc) Order 2024 is being shared as if it were an executive order signed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The other is a 65-page draft document with the title "Accelerated Stabilisation and Advancement Plan (ASAP), which contains suggestions on how to improve the Nigerian economy. President Tinubu received a copy of the draft on Tuesday.
"We urge the public and the media to disregard the two documents and cease further discussions on them. None is an approved official document of the federal government of Nigeria. They are all policy proposals that are still subject to review at the highest level of government. Indeed, one has 'draft' clearly written on it," Mr Onanuga said.
Quoting Mr Edun, he said: "It is important to understand that policymaking is an iterative process involving multiple drafts and discussions before any document is finalised.
"We assure the public that the official position on the documents will be made available after comprehensive reviews and approvals are completed."
According to the statement, emanating from the two documents have been reports of second-guessing the government's policy on customs tariffs, fuel subsidy and other economic matters.
"The government wants to restate that its position on fuel subsidy has not changed from what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu declared on 29 May 2023. The fuel subsidy regime has ended. There is no N5.4 trillion being provisioned for it in 2024, as being widely speculated and discussed.
"As previously stated by government officials, including myself, President Tinubu announced the end of the fuel subsidy programme last year, and this policy remains firmly in place. The federal government is committed to mitigating the effects of this removal and easing the cost of living pressures on Nigerians.
"Our strategy focuses on addressing key factors such as food inflation, which is significantly impacted by transport costs. With the implementation of our Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) initiative, which aims to displace high Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (AGO) costs, we expect to further reduce these costs. Our commitment to ending unproductive subsidies is steadfast, as is our dedication to supporting our most vulnerable populations," the statement quoted Mr Edun as saying.
Mr Onanuga urged the media to always exercise necessary checks and restraints in the use of documents that do not emanate from official channels so that the members of the public are properly informed, guided and educated on government policies and programmes.
Background
Mr Tinubu had, in his inaugural address on 29 May 2023, announced the removal of the subsidy to lift a major financial burden off the back of the government.
The development has caused hardship for many Nigerians with its attendant increase in the prices of goods and services.
Mr Tinubu's announcement led to an increase in fuel price from N197 to between N480 and N570, which immediately triggered a rise in transportation fares and prices of goods and services in the country.
In July 2023, the petrol pump price was subsequently reviewed upward to N617/litre at various outlets of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd).
In recent months, there have been speculations that the government had partly reintroduced petrol subsidy, unannounced, to keep the pump price at N617 given the continued fall in the value of naira against the dollar and the price of crude oil in the international market.
But the government had repeatedly denied it.
On 6 October 2023, the National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), Festus Osifo, insisted that the Nigerian government had restored the subsidy on petrol despite the official government policy of ending the subsidy regime.
Mr Osifo said due to the cost of crude oil in the international market and the exchange rate, the government still pays subsidies on petrol.
"The government has to come clean. In reality, today, there is a subsidy because, as of when the earlier price was determined, the price of crude in the international market was around less than $80 a barrel. But today, it has moved to about $93/94 per barrel for Brent crude. So, because it has moved, the price (of petrol) also needed to move," Mr Osifo said.
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In its reaction at the time, NNPC Limited said the Nigerian government has not resumed payment of subsidy on petrol.
"No subsidy whatsoever. We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market, and we understand why the marketers are unable to import," the NNPC Ltd group chief executive officer, Mele Kyari, told State House correspondents after a meeting with the president at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
"We hope that they do it very quickly, and these are some of the interventions the government is doing. There is no subsidy."
Again, in April, a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai, said whether the government admits it or not, the landing cost of petrol shows that there is a form of subsidy being paid.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), in a report published last month said that the Nigerian government reintroduced petrol subsidy at the end of last year.
The IMF said subsidy payment is expected to gulp almost half of Nigeria's projected oil revenue this year.
The implicit subsidy will cost Africa's largest crude producer an estimated N8.43 trillion of its projected N17.7 trillion of oil revenue, the IMF said in the report.
