The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) NNPC has confirmed that the subsidy bill picked by the Federal Government rose by 17.1 percent to N525.71 billion last month.
According to the released figures, the government has paid N2.568 trillion as subsidies between January and August.
The NNPCL official report submitted to the Federation Account Allocation Committee revealed that the petrol subsidy rose from N448.782 billion in July 2022 to N525.71 billion in August 2022 (an increase of 17.1 percent).
The increase in subsidy was partly due to a 10 percent increase in the supply of petrol, which rose to 71.8 million liters, according to data provided by 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 approved N4 trillion as a petrol subsidy for this year after the government opted to delay the plan to remove the petrol subsidy.
The huge petrol subsidy, discrepancies in supply figures, and Nigeria’s dwindling revenue have generated a 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, the petrol subsidy would gulp some N6.7 trillion.
