Uche Usim, Abuja
A whopping N8.94 trillion was spent by the Federal Government on subsidy payouts between 2006 and 2015, a document by Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) has revealed.
The document on subsidy payment, released on Monday, disclosed that the subsidy was paid to oil marketers and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in the period under review.
A breakdown of the money showed that in 2006, N257.36 billion was paid, while in 2007, the figure rose to N271.51 billion.
Again, in 2008 the figure ballooned to N630.57 billion that was paid to marketers.
In 2009, oil marketers got N409.31 billion and in 2010, they got N667.08 billion as subsidy claims.
The document further revealed that in 2011, the federal government paid a total of N2, 105.92 trillion, an increase of N1,437.84 trillion from 2010 payment.
The PPPRA further revealed that in 2012, N1.35 trillion was paid as subsidy, the highest in the period under review.
“A total of N 1, 316.63 trillion in 2013, N1,217.35 trillion in 2014 and N653.51 billion in 2015 was paid as subsidy claims, “it added.
It noted that the NNPC since 2016 had been the sole importer of the product to the country.
It assured that subsequent releases would reveal the amount paid on subsidy before the deregulation of the downstream oil sector.
In June, the World Bank advised energy-producing and commodities-dependent economies like Nigeria to leverage on the opportunity presented by the crash in crude oil prices to review their energy pricing policies by discarding the costly subsidy regime, as they look forward to the post-COVIC-19 pandemic era.
Rather, the global bank asked them to channel the huge funds hitherto expended on opaque subsidy payouts into public health and education that were in urgent need of bailout.
Earlier in the year, the World Bank listed the removal of fuel subsidy as one of the key reform requirements needed for Nigeria to obtain a $1.5 billion loan to support the fight against the COVID-19 pestilence.