“Subsidy Entirely Removed,” NNPC Declares, Denies Any Conflict With Marketers

Refuting claims that it was involved in a dispute with independent fuel marketers over a Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) subsidy, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited has refuted the allegations.

Fuel marketers, allegedly representing the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, reportedly battled with the NNPC over the continuation of government subsidies.

On the other hand, NNPC spokesman Olufemi Soneye informed Journalists on Wednesday that petrol subsidies have been eliminated in a brief statement.

Soneye stated, “NNPC Ltd. underlines that it has not clashed with any party,” and went on to say that the headline of the newspaper was regrettable.

“The magazine wanted to know if the subsidy had really been cut, and NNPC said it had been eliminated.”

The subsidy period is ended, according to President Bola Tinubu’s inaugural speech on May 29, 2023.

He claimed that gasoline subsidies will not be funded in the 2023 budget and that the payments for subsidies were no longer justified.

In various regions of the country, the price of gasoline per litre increased from approximately N184 to more than N600 after the announcement. Food inflation reached an all-time high as a result of the economic crisis that accompanied the elimination of fuel subsidies. Because of the unstable and scarce foreign currency needed to purchase the necessary product, oil marketers have vowed to increase the price of gasoline per litre.

Nevertheless, there have been problems surrounding the execution of subsidy reduction. The World Bank claimed that the NNPC was not forthright about the financial benefits of fuel subsidy removal and that subsidies were still present.

According to NNPC chairman Mele Kyari, the government was able to recover the full cost of imported products, but the Bretton Woods institution contended that the federation’s gains in net oil revenue were smaller than they should have been.