N1.5trn Spent On Fuel Subsidy In 2019 -FG

The Federal Government has revealed that it spent N1.5trillion on fuel subsidy in 2019.
The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs, Senator Ita Enang, disclosed this in a communiqué in Abuja, yesterday.
The communiqué was issued after a consultative meeting between a Federal Government team led by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Affairs and the Association of Artisanal Local Refineries Operators in Nigeria.
The meeting, held March 15, had in attendance Senator Ita Enang; Mallam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC); Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Prof Daniel Pondei and the Director General/Chief Executive Officer of the National Oil Spill Detection Response Agency (NOSDRA), Mr. Idris Musa.
Others are representatives from the Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), and the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), and Mr. Godwin Sunday, Chairman of the Association of Artisanal Local Refineries Operators in Nigeria.
Enang disclosed that the amount incurred as subsidy was as a result of the fact that the commodity was imported at points where the landing cost were higher than the regulated price of the commodity in Nigeria.
He, however, warned that with the current crash in the prices of crude oil in the international market, the Federal Government would be faced with dwindling revenue from crude oil sales and other barter arrangements, which would make it impossible for the country to sustain the current subsidy regime.
According to him, “whereas the price of crude oil has drastically dropped to the twenties dollar per barrel and there will be great cost differentials if we still ship very cheap crude abroad, pay export shipping cost and incidentals, get them refined abroad and ship back to Nigeria, paying another shipping and landing, agencies and incidental cost, including fuel subsidy.
“Whereas with the crashed cheap price of crude oil, Nigeria will not have enough revenue from crude sales or any batter arrangement to sustain the subsidy regime currently operating.