FG Not Paying Fuel Subsidy- Tinubu Insists; Not A Few Nigerians Disagree

The federal government has not reversed its decision on the payment of petrol subsidy, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu insists.

Rather, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL has been defraying the high cost of paying subsidy in other to bring reliefs to Nigerians.

Not a few Nigerians insist that the federal government is still paying petrol subsidy more that a year after President Tinubu said at his inauguration on May 29, 2023 that “fuel subsidy is gone.”

Bayo Onanuga, the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Strategy made this known few hours ago in a statement on his X handle.

According to him, the report that the administration has returned to the payment of subsidy is misleading and should be jettisoned.

Recall that NNPCL recently disclosed that subsidy debt to petrol marketers has risen to over $6 trillion, saying the situation is affecting smooth supply of petrol in the country.

NNPL’s revelation comes amidst the scarcity of the product in the country, a situation that has pushed its pump price to averagely N1000 per litre.

Also, the NNPCL on Tuesday, increased its retail price to N887 from N568 per litre amidst protestations from the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, which in its reactions said the decision contradicts resident Tinubu’s promise to the organised Labour not to hike the cost of petrol.

Reacting, Onanuga said the “government has been faithful to its policy” on the payment of petrol subsidy.

The statement read in part, “I have read a series of articles attacking the Federal Government for not telling the truth about fuel subsidy payments, following NNPC Limited’s admittance it was owing suppliers some $6 billion. Some of the stories have been written with relish, as the authors believed they have uncovered some scoops. The truth is that there is no discovery. No lie uncovered.

“The government has been faithful to its policy that it was no longer going to pay fuel subsidies since President Tinubu announced the deregulation of the PMS sector on 29 May 2023. Since then, subsidy provisions have disappeared from the budget. It was not in the Supplementary budget of 2023, not in the 2024 budget and the amended 2024 budget. So the giddy headlines about the so-called unraveling of the Tinubu government’s subsidy payment; and return of subsidy were not justifiable.

“Rather what has unravelled was the commendable disposition of the oil company owned by all the tiers of government to absorb the rising costs of petrol at the pump and protect the Nigerian consumer. That generous disposition by NNPC Limited, backed by a compassionate president unwilling to let the people suffer, has been under threat for months, because of the rising cost of crude and the devalued Naira.

“The NNPC cried out recently because it can no longer sustain the price differential on its balance sheet without becoming insolvent. The situation has greater implications for the ability of the three tiers of government to function as the NNPC has failed to pay into the Federation Account, the money that should go to the government.”