From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Executive Council (FEC) presided over by President Muhammedu Buhari received from the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) a bill of N3 trillion as what is required for 2022 following the decision to extend the payment of petroleum subsidy.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, who briefed State House Correspondents at the press briefing said FEC considered the request to make additional funding provision to enable government to meet incremental fuel subsidy payment in the 2022 budget.
She recalled that only N443 billion is presently available in the 2022 budget meant to accommodate subsidy from January to June.
According to Ahmed, with the realities on ground including the present hardship faced by Nigerians and the lack of structures to support subsidy removal, the NNPC made a request for N3 trillion from the Ministry of Finance for 2022.
“What this means is that we have to make incremental provision of N2.557 trillion to be able to meet subsidy requirement which is averaging about N270 billion per month.”
She said the request was considered by council which directed the ministry to approach the National Assembly for an amendment to the fiscal framework as well as the budget.
She further revealed that council has approved an amendment to be transmitted to the National Assembly to repeal clauses 10 and 11 concerning the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) operations in the 2022 budget and as well restore what the lawmakers had deleted amounting to N103 billion.
Details later…
