FG Pays N1.82 Trillion As Subsidy Payments In Five Months

The Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has said it paid N1.82 trillion as subsidy payments in five months, and arrears on the payments hit N3.73 trillion.

In its monthly presentation to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting on June 22, 2023, the national oil company said it paid N307.408 billion as petrol subsidy payment in May 2023.

NNPC said from January 2023 to May 2023, petrol under-recovery totalled N1.828 trillion — 55 percent higher than the amount paid in the corresponding period of 2022.

It also disclosed that subsidy payments gulped N274.769 billion in January 2023, N477.742 billion in February, N415.381 billion in March, and N353.130 billion in April, respectively.

Meanwhile, under-recovery arrears amounted to N3.735 trillion and has been “carried forward”, the state oil firm said.

It said: “The May 2023 subsidy amounted to N307,408,874,345.82, thus, the outstanding balance carried forward is ₦3,735,689,387,761.22 as of June 2023 FAAC.

“The sum of N495,497,600,000 was recovered from FGN/CBN subsidy support.

“The recovery consists of N400 billion from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and federal government subsidy support as well as “$220,000 (80 percent of $275,000) Nigeria liquefied natural gas dividend.”

According to the NNPC, the NLNG dividend is converted at N434.08/$1, which is the FAAC-approved exchange rate for May 2023.

The national oil firm also revealed that it raked in N47.57 billion as domestic production sharing contract (PSC) crude oil and gas revenue in May 2023.

Meanwhile, FAAC has claimed that the NNPC did not remit money into the federation account in May 2023 from crude sales, royalties, and taxes.

The Committee made the claim in a statement issued by the Director, of Press and Public Relations of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Stephen Kilebi.