Ben Akabueze, director general of
the Budget Office, says the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is
paying N53 on every litre of petrol consumed by Nigerians.
Speaking on Wednesday at the
Strategic Dialogue on the Morocco-Nigeria Relations in Abuja, the DG said
Nigeria would have been celebrating high oil prices but it isn’t.
At the Department of Petroleum
Resources’ estimates that 45 million litres of petrol are consumed daily, this
means that the NNPC records N2.38 billion as under-recovery daily.
“On oil price, for us, it is a
double-edged sword, unfortunately. This ought to be a season where we should be
clicking glasses with regards to the oil price. But right now, practically
every drop of refined petroleum product that we consume in the country is
imported,” PUNCH quoted him to have said.
“And the one single factor that
determines the price of refined product is the price of crude. In essence,
while we export the crude at about $80 (per barrel), we effectively import back
the same crude at about $100 importation price for refined products. And that
explains why despite the strong oil prices, we are not seeing a corresponding
growth in government revenue.
“Also at the moment, in terms of
pricing of petroleum products, for every litre of petrol, there is an N53
under-recovery. Well, that is the term that the NNPC, which has this
responsibility, calls it and so who am I? This represents a significant value
for us. Hence, the need to diversify the economy remains urgent.”
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