The Senate has declared that the federal government will have to justify the fresh request for N3 trillion for the extension of the subsidy on petrol before it is approved by the National Assembly. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Ajibola Basiru, made the above known against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the actual volume of petrol, which Nigeria consumed daily. Following the suspension of planned subsidy removal last week, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had noted that the assessment of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) showed that Nigeria consumes 65.7 million litres of petrol per day.
Ahmed said this while speaking on the NNPC’s request of N3 trillion for fuel subsidy, which according to her has been approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC).
The minister explained that with the harsh economic realities on the ground and the dearth of structures to support subsidy removal, the NNPC requested N3tn from the Ministry of Finance for 2022.
The minister said the council considered the request to provide additional funding for the government to meet incremental fuel subsidy payments in the 2022 Appropriation Act.
She added that the Federal Government currently spends about N270 billion per month on fuel subsidy, adding that the FG would have to make an incremental provision of N2.557 trillion to meet subsidy requirements for the year 2022.
The government is billed to present executive bills to the parliament to amend the 2022 Appropriation Act and the Petroleum Industry Act, as part of the move to extend the subsidy regime, following the protests that greeted its planned removal.
Already, the House of Representatives, last week, resolved to investigate the correct daily consumption volume and the actual state of the nation’s four refineries. The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, had set up two ad hoc committees to carry out the probes separately within six and eight weeks, respectively.
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