According to reports, the federal government paid N169.4 billion as a subsidy in August to maintain the pump price at N620 per litre.
According to a igberetv report, a Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) document reviewed on Wednesday, September 20, revealed that in August 2023, Nigeria received $275 million in dividend payments from Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) through NNPC Limited.
In order to pay for the PMS subsidy, NNPC Limited used $220 million (N169.4 billion at N770/$) of the total $275 million.
NNPC then withheld $55 million.
The disclosure by FAAC effectively indicates that the subsidy is back, and the report further stated that NNPC is now using NLNG dividends to pay the subsidy.
Additionally, despite President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s repeated assurances that the subsidy is no longer in place and the international crude price crossing $95 a barrel, the current price stagnation suggests a return of the subsidy.
According to reports given to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the cost of the fuel subsidy for 2021 alone was N1.57 trillion, and from January to May of 2022, it was N1.27 trillion.
Between June 2022 and June 2023, an additional N3 trillion was spent on fuel subsidies.
The report comes just four months after President Bola Tinubu announced on May 29 that there would be no more petroleum subsidies because they were not included in the current 2023 budget.
He disclosed that the fuel subsidy is planned for in the current 2023 budget up until June.
When subsidies were eliminated, the price of fuel skyrocketed, which had a knock-on effect that sent prices for everything else through the roof.
Tinubu had promised that money for subsidies would be diverted to other things like public infrastructure, education, health care, and jobs.
