NNPC Limited says fuel subsidy now above N400bn monthly

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., NNPCL, on Friday disclosed that the amount being spent as subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, has crossed N400 billion monthly.

Malam Mele Kyari, NNPCL’s Group Chief Executive Officer, disclosed this on Friday in Abuja at the ongoing final cutover to change NNPC’s status from a corporation.

Kyari explained that NNPCL was spending about N202 million as subsidy on every litre of petrol consumed across the country.

He added that about 65 million litres of PMS were pumped daily into the market by the NNPCL.

Kyari said the oil company would continue to meet its obligations by providing PMS for Nigeria, adding that the over N400 billion monthly subsidy has been a severe strain on NNPCL’s cash flow.

According to him, NNPCL is the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria and has continued to play this role for several years running, bearing the huge cost of fuel subsidy.

Other private oil marketers stopped importing petrol into Nigeria due to the difficulty encountered in accessing the United States dollars required for the imports of PMS, he said.

Kyari articulated: “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.

“Our customers are here, we are transferring to each of them at N113 per litre. That means there is 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 N400 billion of subsidy every month.”