Journal of Emerging Trends in Economics and Management Sciences: Home

Article Title:
REDIRECTING REMOVED SUBSIDY FUNDS IN NIGERIA: REFLECTIONS ON THE INTERVENTION'S STRATEGIES TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
by Doki, Naomi Onyeje

Abstract:
The removal of subsidy from petroleum products in Nigeria has constantly generated concerns, debates and resistance from Nigerians over time. The government in a bid to pacify Nigerians and proffer long term solutions in the sector, created the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) when Nigerians strongly resisted the total removal of subsidy in 2012. Since its inception, it has embarked on programmes in two main categories, the Infrastructure Development projects and the Social Safety Nets. Over N200 Billion has been committed to the programme since July 2012. Even though the life span of the project extends to 2015, half of the time has been spent and a mid- term review has been done. The paper reflects on the feasibility, validity and viability of the programme to realize the objective of reducing the hardship caused by the subsidy removal and the achievement of sustainable development in this all important sector. The study used secondary data and employed descriptive tools to shed light on the status quo and stimulate the reflections in terms of the emerging trends and outcomes of SURE-P. The study concludes that the efforts at redirecting subsidy so far have been unsatisfactory because the projects embarked upon so far are not sufficient to ensure long term transformation and stability in the oil sector.

Keywords: subsidy, subsidy removal, sure-p, Nigeria, sustainable development

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