By Emma Ujah, with agency reports

The federal government plans to tap 2 billion euros this month or next of the money it raised in a eurobond sale last year.

Reuters reported the Finister of Finance, Budget and National Planning,   Mrs. Zainab Ahmed,   as disclosing this at the Arab-African Conference in Cairo,   Egypt,   yesterday.

She said the administration would target more local borrowing in 2022 to help fund budget deficit which has been exacerbated by rising oil prices, due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Mrs Ahmed said that Nigeria had no plan to return to the eurobond market this year.She was quoted as saying, “Rising oil prices has put us in a very precarious position … because we import refined products … and it means that our subsidy cost is really increasing.”

The federal government had, in September last year,   raised 4 billion Euros from the international capital market.

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Although the President Muhammadu Buhari administration had announced plans to end fuel subsidies in June, it later reversed itself following Public outcry against the decision.   It then extended the subsidies by 18 months to avert any protests in the run-up to presidential elections next year.

Rather than being an advantage to Nigeria as a major oil producer,   the high crude oil prices have become a burden for the country as the fuel consumed in locally is imported.

The Buhari administration has failed in its promise to make the four refineries owned by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited become operational,   despite huge investments in their Turnaround Maintenance.

Currently, the acute fuel shortage and high prices across the country has almost ground the nation’s economy.

Vanguard News Nigeria