Diesel VAT Waived for Six Months as FG and Labour Avert Strike

The Federal Government has announced a six-month waiver of the 7.5 per cent Value Added Tax (VAT) on Automotive Gas Oil, commonly known as diesel, as part of the measures to ease the burden of Nigerians and prevent an indefinite strike by the organized labour.

The Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, disclosed this on Sunday after a meeting between the government and the labour leaders.

Newsflash Nigeria reported that the waiver of the VAT on diesel comes at a time when the price of the product has skyrocketed from N600 per litre in early June to N1000 per litre as of last week.

The high cost of diesel has affected the operations of businesses, especially those that rely on generators for power supply.

The Minister said that the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, approved the VAT waiver on diesel for the next six months to cushion the effects of the fuel price hike and deregulation of the downstream sector.

He added that the government also committed to providing funds for micro and small-scale enterprises to support their growth and development.

The announcement was part of the resolutions reached at an emergency meeting between the Federal Government and the organized labour to avert the planned nationwide indefinite strike, which was scheduled to begin from midnight of Tuesday, October 3. The strike would have paralyzed economic activities and caused hardship for millions of Nigerians.

The meeting, which lasted for four hours, also discussed other issues relating to fuel subsidy removal interventions, such as palliatives for transport workers, mass transit buses, electricity tariff reduction and review of the minimum wage. The Minister said that both parties agreed to continue the dialogue on Monday to further streamline the issues and reach a consensus.

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