The Nigeria Governors’ Forum and the Nigeria Labour Congress have berated the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation over what they described as the mismanagement of the fuel subsidy regime.
This came in shortly after the NNPC, as disclosed by the Federal Government, had had submitted a 3 trillion naira budget to finance fuel subsidy in 2022, and that the House of Representatives said it would probe daily consumption of petrol and the state of the nation’s four refineries.
In a statement by the NGF and NLC forum’s Head, Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, said after a meeting in Abuja, that they particularly doubted the NNPC’s fuel consumption figure and argued that it had become necessary for the two groups to verify NNPC’s estimates carefully.
He said the “lacuna in the subsidy removal agenda was hidden in the untruths bandied by the administrators of the subsidy, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which both groups identify to be at the forefront of the mismanagement of the proceeds accrued therein.”
NGF Chairman and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, noted that action must be taken to ensure that Nigerians get direct benefits from subsidy and not just a few wealthy individuals and their cronies.
They noted the NNPC was the forefront of the mismanagement of the proceeds accrued therein.
“We need a partnership with the NLC to confront the challenges of what the NNPC is about, because there is a lot of fraud in the consumption and distribution figures that the country is getting and we can only move forward if the NLC engages all those who are knowledgeable in the field like PENGASSAN to conduct a thorough research into the sector before any further action is taken on subsidy,” Fayemi said at the meeting.
Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had disclosed to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting that the Federal Government will have to make an incremental provision of N2.557 trillion in order to meet subsidy requirements which currently averages about N270 billion per month.
“In 2022, because of the increased crude oil price per barrel in the global market, now at $80 per barrel, and also because NNPC’s assessment is that Nigeria is that the country is consuming 65.7 million litres per day, that we would end up with an incremental cost of N3 trillion in 2022,” the minister said.
The finance minister further disclosed that only N443 billion is presently available in the 2022 budget meant to accommodate subsidy from January to June.
