FG owing us N2.8trn for fuel subsidy payment

The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC), Mele Kyari, has said that the federal government owes the company the sum of N2.8 trillion in the payment deficit of fuel subsidy.

Kyari made this known while speaking at the presidential villa after a meeting with President Bola Tinubu, on Tuesday, May 30.

He noted that the disclosure made by the president in his inaugural speech on the fuel subsidy policy was most welcome as it is no longer sustainable.

Kyari also lamented that the heavy subsidy burden has made it impossible for NNPC to have funds to channel into its core businesses.

He said that, “Since the provision of N6 trillion in 2022, and N3.7 trillion in 2023, we have not have not received any payment whatsoever from the federal government.

“That means we’ve continued to support this subsidy from the cash flow of the NNPC despite not receiving any money from the federal government.

“That is when we net off our fiscal obligations of taxes and royalty, there’s still a balance that we’re funding from our cash flow and that has become very difficult and it’s affecting our operations.

“We’re not able to keep some of this cash for investment in our core businesses and the end result is that it can be a huge challenge for the company.

“We have highlighted this severally to the government that they must pay back the NNPC for the money that we have spent on the subsidy on fuel.

“As of today, we are still waiting for the federal government to settle up to N2.8 trillion of NNPC’s cashflow from the subsidy policy,” added.