The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd., or NNPCL, announced on Friday, February 17, that the monthly subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), also known as gasoline, has surpassed N400 billion.
This information was provided on Friday, February 17, in Abuja during the current final cutover to change NNPC’s status from a corporation by Malam Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPCL.
According to Kyari, NNPCL was subsidizing each litre of gasoline consumed nationwide with an amount of N202 million.
He continued by saying that the NNPCL daily injected roughly 65 million liters of PMS into the market.
Asserting that the over N400 billion monthly subsidy has put a significant burden on NNPCL’s cash flow, Kyari stated that the oil company would continue to fulfill its commitments by delivering PMS for Nigeria.
He claims that NNPCL has been Nigeria’s sole importer of gasoline for many years while also absorbing the significant expense of fuel subsidies.
Due to the difficulty in obtaining the US dollars needed for the imports of PMS, other private oil marketers ceased importing gasoline into Nigeria, he claimed.
According to Kyari, “Currently, the flow of petroleum products, notably PMS, into our country is subsidized by law and the requirements of the Appropriation Act. Three days ago, the landing cost was approximately N315 per litre according to current data.
“Our customers are here, we are transferring to each of them at N113 per litre. That means there is a difference of close to N202 for every litre of PMS we import into this country. In computation, N202 multiplied by 66.5 million litres, multiplied by 30 will give you over N400 billion of subsidy every month.”
