The consumption of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, has risen to about 80 million litres daily, pushing up subsidy on the commodity to an estimated N484bn monthly, going by latest figures from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
An analysis of PMS weekly evacuation/dispatch data from March 4 – 10, 2023, obtained from NNPCL on Wednesday, indicated that a total of 558.83 million litres of petrol was evacuated during the period, translating to an average daily consumption of 79.83 million litres.
Around mid-last month, the Group Chief Executive, NNPCL, Mele Kyari, said about 66 million litres of petrol was pumped daily into the market by the oil firm, as the company was spending about N202 on every litre of PMS consumed across the country.
“Today, by law and the provisions of the Appropriation Act, there is a subsidy on the supply of petroleum products, particularly PMS imports into our country. In current data terms, three days ago, the landing cost was around N315/litre. NNPCL, however, has been lamenting the huge burden of PMS subsidy, as Kyari pointed out in February that this had been a drain on the cash-flow of the national oil firm. He explained that the continuous funding of petrol subsidy by NNPCL had been ongoing without refunds from the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, despite the fact that subsidy had been budgeted for in the Appropriation Act. But there is a budget provision for it (subsidy). Our country has decided to do this. So, we are happy to deliver this, but it is also a drain on our cash flow, and I must emphasize this. For as we continue to support this, you will agree with me that it will be extremely challenging for us to continue to fund this from the cash flow of the company when you do not get refunds from the Ministry of Finance,” Kyari had stated in Abuja.
Fuel subsidy is a topical issue in Nigeria. Many experts, local and international institutions have called for a halt in petrol subsidy. However, labour unions had kicked against an outright subsidy halt, on the grounds that the Federal Government must fix Nigeria’s refineries first.
Analysts at Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise recently explained that Nigeria would save about N10tn annually by the elimination of subsidies on PMS and foreign exchange. Nigeria and has maintained this for several https://punchng.com/fuel-consumption-hits-80million-litres-daily-subsidy-skyrockets/ d its imports due to the difficulty in accessing foreign e
