President Muhammadu Buhari says
the federal government has set aside N305 billion or $1 billion for fuel
subsidy payments in the 2019 budget.
Speaking to the joint session of
the national assembly on Wednesday in
Abuja, the president said the amount will be used to cater for NNPC
“under-recoveries”.
“We have allowed N305 billion,
equivalent to $1 billion for under-recoveries by NNPC on premium motor spirit
in 2019,” Buhari said.
“We will continue working to
bring it downwards, so that such resources are freed to meet the developmental
needs of our people.
“Let me also use this opportunity
to address and clarify the under-recoveries or subsidies on petrol in a period
of economic challenges, our purchasing power is weak, we must reduce some of
the burden on Nigerians.”
The president went on to explain
that subsidies today are much more different from what they used to be in the
past, stating that the NNPC is the sole importer of oil today.
“The problem in subsidies in the
past was abuse and corruption. Today, the government through the NNPC is the
sole importer of premium motor spirit,” Buhari added
“Therefore the under-recovery is
fro the NNPC trading account. This means the possibilities of some marketer
falsifying claims are removed.”
The senate recently confirmed
that $1.05 billion NLNG dividend to the Nigerian state was also used for fuel
imports in 2018.
Crazy!
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