NNPCL Confirms No Fuel Subsidy Payments Made in the Last Nine Years Amid Controversy

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) has confirmed that it has not issued any fuel subsidies in the last nine years, despite ongoing controversy surrounding the matter.

Alhaji Umar Ajiya, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, made this clarification on Monday in Abuja.

His statement comes in response to claims that Nigeria continues to pay fuel subsidies even after President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration announced their removal in May 2023.

Ajiya explained that the NNPCL has merely been managing Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) importation shortfalls between the federation and the company.

“In the last eight to nine years, the NNPCL has not paid anybody a dime as subsidy, no one has been paid kobo by the NNPC Ltd. in the name of subsidy,” Ajiya stated.

He further clarified, “No marketer has received any money from us by way of subsidy. What has been happening is that we have been importing PMS, which has been landing at a certain cost price and the government tells us to sell it at half price. So the difference between the landing price and that half price is what we call shortfall. And the deal is between the Federation and NNPCL to reconcile, sometimes they give us money, so there is no money exchanging hands with any marketer in the name of subsidy.”

This clarification follows statements by Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, who revealed that the NNPCL has been maintaining the current pump price of the product by utilizing savings from previous fuel subsidies.

It is important to note that the company reportedly requested a claim from the Nigerian government for the N2.6 trillion foreign currency discrepancy related to fuel imports between August 2023 and June 2024.