FG Spends N423.2m on Petrol Subsidy

The Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Agency has revealed that the Federal government spends N423.2m daily on petrol subsidy in spite of the fall in global oil prices. With the country averaging a daily petrol consumption of 40million litres, the subsidy figure has been put at N10.58 per litre. Stakeholders in the oil and gas sector have prescribed removal of fuel subsidy as a solution to the shady practices that have characterised the sector. They added that subsidy removal would solve the intermittent problem of fuel scarcity. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources , Ibe Kachikwu, had earlier stated that the government could no longer sustain the subsidy regime and might review fuel prices by January 2016. He attributed the fuel scarcity currently being experienced in many cities across the nation to the non-payment of the N413bn subsidy claims of the oil marketers. The marketers had stopped importing petrol as a result of debt.