Abuja, Feb. 18, 2023 – The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) says it now spends over N400 billion monthly to subsidise importation of petrol.
The NNPCL Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, said this on Friday at the oil firm’s ongoing Final Cutover to NNPC Ltd from being a corporation.
He said the company was now spending about N202 as subsidy on every litre of petrol consumed across the country.
Kyari said that NNPL was pumping about 65 million litres of PMS daily into the market to keep the country wet.
He said that the over N400 billion monthly subsidy had been a severe strain on NNPCL’s cash flow, although the company would continue to meet its obligations by providing petrol for Nigeria.
Other private oil marketers had stopped importing petrol into Nigeria due to the difficulty encountered in accessing the United States dollars, required for the imports of PMS.
“Today, by law and the provisions of the Appropriation Act, there is subsidy on the supply of petroleum products, particularly PMS into our country.
“In current data terms, three days ago the landing cost was around N315/litre.
“That means there’s a difference of close to N202 for every litre of PMS we import into this country.
“In computation, N202 multiplied by 66.5 million litres, multiplied by 30 will give you over N400bn of subsidy every month.”
Kyari said the continuous funding of petrol subsidy by NNPCL had been ongoing without refunds from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, despite the fact that subsidy had been budgeted for in the Appropriation Act.
“There is a budget provision for it. Our country has decided to do this. So we are happy to deliver this, but it is also a drain on our cash flow, and I must emphasis this.
“For as we continue to support this, you will agree with me that it will be extremely challenging for us to continue to fund this from the cash flow of the company when you do not get refunds from the Ministry of Finance,” he said. (GBN)
