Former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, has said that the Federal Government has re-introduced petrol subsidy through the back door.
Recent media reports stated that monthly subsidy payment is nearly N1 trillion, which exceeds the amount that was being paid monthly by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Shaibu, in a statement issued Monday while reacting to reports by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said that the Nigerian Government had begun paying petrol subsidy again.
He maintained that it had become clear that one of the reasons that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited had not been paying the required amount of money into the government’s account was that monies were being diverted under an opaque and secret subsidy regime.
He said, “Tinubu has been boasting at every economic forum that he deserves to be in the Guinness Book of records for removing petrol subsidy. He even said before ringing the closing bell at NASDAQ in New York last September that the ‘corrupt subsidy’ regime and FX issues had been resolved.
“But as with every other thing relating to Tinubu, this has turned out to be another lie from the pit of hell. Currently, the exchange rate based on what the Central Bank of Nigeria recommended to the Nigeria Customs Service is N1515/$1. Hence diesel price is now over N1,200 but petrol is still selling for between N600 and N700.
“Nigeria is the only country in the world where such disparity between diesel and petrol exists. It has become obvious that petrol subsidy has returned through the backdoor.
“With the return of petrol subsidy, oil marketers have opted out and that is why the NNPC has returned to being the sole importer of petrol once more and has the temerity to be announcing that it will not increase petrol cost regardless of the international price of crude oil and the exchange rate.”
