Nigeria’s petrol subsidy regime has been “fuelling the vicious cycle of poverty” , the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has said.

A total of 133 million Nigerians are said to be living in poverty.

Lawal Musa, Senior Business Advisor to Mele Kyari, group chief executive officer (GCEO) of NNPC, said the Federal Government spends as much as N4.8 trillion annually on petrol subsidy — at the expense of the wellbeing of Nigerians.

He stated this at a joint National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS)/Civil Society Organisations (CSOs).

In a presentation titled, “Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) and the Nigerian economy’’, he said the amount spent on petrol subsidy payments could deliver infrastructural projects to the citizens.

Musa said deregulation of petrol prices could deliver 500,000 new houses and skill up of 2 million Nigerian students, among others.

According to him, the amount spent on subsidy could provide 7,500 kilometers of road network at N400 million per kilometre and 37 well-equipped 120-bed tertiary health centres at N32 billion per hospital annually.

He added that the subsidy spend could deliver N12 trillion in four years to Nigeria, adding that the cost of petrol subsidy surpasses the direct benefits to the masses.

In addition, the NNPC GCEO adviser said deregulation of PMS prices could also provide additional 27,000 megawatts of electricity to Nigerians as well as build and equip 2,400 hospitals in 774 local government areas.
Nigeria is the largest producer of crude oil in Africa, possessing 28 percent of Africa’s reserve, with petroleum contributing significantly to the country’s economy,” he said.

“The benefits derived have over the years been eroded due to the amount paid on subsidy, a regime [that] has been fuelling the vicious circle (sic) of poverty in the country.”

Musa explained that petrol was sold at the lowest price in Nigeria, among most West African countries, in spite of the average cost of $2.7 per litre globally, which amounted to about N570 per litre.

He noted that verifiable petrol demand data is critical to national planning and energy security.

On his part, Garba Deen Muhammad, NNPC’s spokesperson, said the organisation was engaging with students as critical stakeholders in the new organisation, which he said belonged to over 200 million Nigerians — including the students.

Muhammad said the engagement, which would be done annually, was aimed at enlightening the students and CSOs on NNPC as a new entity, registered by the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), under the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA).

The Federal Government says the new national carrier, Nigeria Air, will commence operation before the end of the current administration on May 29.

Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday.

He spoke amid worry about a lingering court case instituted against the project by airline operators of Nigeria.

Sirika gave the assurances during the National Aviation Stakeholders Forum 2023.

He said the Federal Government was already taking measures to overcome the hurdles introduced by the indigenous airlines.

According to him, the project is 98 per cent completed.

“All of the road map items except, perhaps the airline, which in my opinion is at 98 per cent completion, and we will fly within the remaining two months by the grace of God,” the minister said.

“We will also finish the concessions. So, all those things we said we would do when we came in, we did them.”

The minister described as unfair the action of the local airlines, adding that the Buhari government had supported local airlines more than all previous governments.
He accused them of constituting a stumbling block to the actualisation of the national carrier expected to generate new jobs and better opportunities in the industry.

He said the Nigerian Aviation industry is the only one in the world where qualified pilots are without jobs.

He said 50 pilots had come to him complaining about their unemployment status, adding that the national carrier should be able to employ more pilots and create other job opportunities.

He said Ethiopian Airlines, the offered bidder for the national carrier, is highly competent and profitable enough to add value to the Nigerian aviation sector.

The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) has shared N722.677 billion among the three tiers of government for February 2023.

This is a drop of N27.497 billion compared to January’s allocation of N750.174 billion.

FAAC disclosed this in a communique issued at the end of its meeting for March 2023 in Abuja on Wednesday.

The committee said the N722.677 billion total distributable revenue comprised statutory revenue of N366.800 billion, value-added tax (VAT) revenue of N224.232 billion, electronic money transfer levy (EMTL) of N11.645 billion, and N120 billion augmentation from forex equalisation account.

According to the comminiqué, in February 2023, the total deductions for cost of collection was N27.449 billion, while total deductions for transfers, savings, recoveries and refunds was N109.909 billion.

From the total distributable revenue of N722.677 billion, FAAC said the Federal Government received N269.063 billion, states got N236.464 billion and N173.936 billion went to the local governments.

A total sum of N43.214 billion was also shared with the relevant states as 13 per cent derivation revenue.

FAAC said a statutory revenue of N487.106 billion was received for the month of February 2023.

This, it said, was lower than the N653.704 billion received in the previous month by N166.598 billion.

From the balance of N366.800 billion distributable statutory revenue, the committee noted that the FG received N178.683 billion, states collected N90.630 billion, and local governments got N69.872 billion.

It added that the sum of N27.614 billion was shared as 13 per cent derivation revenue among the concerned states.

According to FAAC, the gross revenue available from the value-added tax (VAT) for February was N240.799 billion, which is lower than the previous month’s.

The committee said from the N224.232 billion value-added tax (VAT), FG was given N33.635 billion, states received N112.116 billion and local governments were paid N78.481 billion.