The subsidy bill picked by the Federal Government rose by 17.1 per cent to N525.71 billion last month, the figures made available by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) confirmed at the weekend.
According to the figures, the government has paid N2.568 trillion as subsidy between January and August.
The NNPCL official report submitted to the Federation Account Allocation Committee indicated that petrol subsidy rose from N448.782 billion in July 2022 to N525.71 billion in August 2022 (an increase of 17.1 per cent).
The increase in subsidy was partly due to a 10 per cent increase in supply of petrol, which rose to 71.8 million litres, according to data provided the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
Oil production in August averaged 1.18 million barrels per day, well below Nigeria’s OPEC quota of 1.8 million bpd, due largely to theft that has curtailed production.
In April, the National Assembly had approved N4 trillion as petrol subsidy for this year after the government opted to delay plan to remove petrol subsidy.
The huge petrol subsidy, discrepancies in supply figures and Nigeria’s dwindling revenue have generated heated debate that put the NNPCL in the spotlight.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Hajia Zainab Ahmed, said that out of the N19.76 trillion Budget proposed for next year, petrol subsidy would gulp some N6.7 trillion.
With the huge debt services costs, Mrs. Ahmed said the cumulative effect of these costs could undermine any capital project implementation in 2023.
Comptroller-General, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Col Hameed Ali (rtd) raised doubts over the supply and subsidy figures by the NNPCL.
