The Office of Accountant General of the Federation (oAGF) has revealed that payment for petrol subsidy from the federation account between January 2017 and June 2022 gulped N4.194 trillion.
Details of the subsidy payment were contained in a 2-page document submitted by the Director Overseeing the oAGF, Mr. Sylva Okolieaboh to the House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc Committee inaugurated to ‘Ascertain the actual daily consumption of premium motor spirit (PMS) in Nigeria’, chaired by Hon. Abdulkadir Abdullahi on Tuesday.
A breakdown of the payments / deductions from the federation account computed by the oAGF through the Federation Account Department for the period under review showed that the sum of N126.539 billion was paid from January-December 2017; N691.586 billion from January-December 2018; N537.209 billion from January-December 2019; N133.625 billion from January-December 2020; and N1.159 billion from January-December 2021, while N1.545 trillion had been paid between January and June 2022.
“It is surprising now to see that oil companies are reeling out figures of importation, in fact more than what NNPC imported in 2020. I need some clarifications and if that happened, do they import it without any form of subsidy or what actually happened?” the committee chairman queried.
Executive Secretary, Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Mr. Ogbonnaya Orji explained that while the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited took charge of most of the importations, it had other partnerships and arrangements with IOCs.
NEITI said NNPC as the sole importer of petrol into the country had SWAP and other arrangements with the IOCs with a view to reduce its exposure to the issues.
He explained that NNPC had arrangements with some of the oil marketers as a stop-gap for importation of PMS in 2020, and that the agency will provide information on those things imported and the vessels and everything.
The lawmakers expressed concerns over the non-provision of details of the actual volume of litres of premium motor spirit (PMS) distributed by the NNPC that amounted to the N4.194 trillion fuel subsidy deductions from the Federation account, and directed the oAGF Director to provide the statement of accounts of the Federation Account alongside the Crude Oil Account statements.
In his remarks, Hon. Uzoma Nkem-Abonta (PDP-Abia) queried the rationale behind the refusal of the regulatory agencies to provide the details of actual volume of PMS consumed daily in the country, and reemphasised the need for scrutiny of relevant bank documents.
The ommittee chairman also reiterated that the money the NNPC generates ought to be paid into the federation account.
According to him, “you know this money is not only for the federal government, it’s for the federal government, it’s for Abia State, it’s for Ningi Local Government, the three tiers of government and other deductions. But before it comes, NNPC will withdraw it, they are brandishing one Supreme Court judgement or whatever,” Abdullahi stated.
