There are indications President Bola Ahmed Tinubu may have succumbed to the re-introduction of the fuel subsidy policy.
It has emerged that the Federal Government paid N169.4 billion as subsidy in August to keep the pump price at N620 per litre.
The recent stability of fuel price even with the worsening exchange rate and international crude price crossing $95 a barrel suggests a return of subsidy, Daily Trust reports.
A document by the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC), quoted by the paper, indicates that in August 2023, the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) paid $275m as dividends to Nigeria via NNPC Limited. NNPC Limited used $220m (N169.4 billion at N770/$) out of the $275m to pay for the PMS subsidy. Then NNPC held back $55m, illegally.
Data from FAAC effectively indicates that the subsidy is back and NNPC is now taking NLNG dividends to pay the subsidy.
Tinubu took over from President Buhari whose tenure recorded the highest amount spent on subsidising petrol in Nigeria’s history.
According to oil and gas industry reports conducted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the cost of petrol subsidy from 2015 to 2020 was N1.99 trillion.
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