According to figures released by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency on Monday, The Federal Government spent a whooping N8.94tn on petrol subsidy between 2006 and 2015.
The Data made public by the PPPRA showed that Nigeria’s government consistently spent billions of naira on subsidising Premium Motor Spirit popularly known as petrol during the 10-year period.
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It said that in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, the government spent N257.36bn, N271.51bn, N630.57bn, N469.31bn and N667.08bn respectively.
Also in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, the government paid N2.104tn, N1.354tn, N1.315tn, N1.217tn and N653.51bn respectively on petrol subsidy.
Recall that the PPPRA had commenced the deregulation of the downstream oil sector in a bid to put a stop to the continued payment of subsidy way back in March.
Before March, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, which is the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria, had persistently recorded under-recoveries due to its subsidy spendings on petrol.
Last week, the PPPRA announced a market-based pricing regime for petrol in furtherance to boosting the deregulation of the downstream oil and gas sector in the country.
Spokesperson of the PPPRA, Kimchi Apollo had also stated that with the new implementation, oil marketers were now empowered to fix petrol price in accordance with the market realities.
