After test running its recently introduced price modulation which commenced on January 1, 2016, the Federal Government at the weekend officially returned to its earlier jettisoned subsidy regime.

The subsidy scheme had been described as a drain pipe used by only a few to enrich their pockets leaving the average Nigerian to suffer in abject poverty.

According to the latest Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) pricing template released on Friday, the expected open market price of petrol was pegged at N92.34k.The expected open market price is landing cost plus margin. At N92.34k, that translates to government paying

N5.84k on every litre of petrol, at the retail price of N86.00 for Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) retail outlets and N86.50k for independent marketers.

The national daily consumption according to NNPC is 40 million litres a day, multiplied by N5.84k which translate to N233,600,000 million per day. Meanwhile, the Nigerian National Petroleum

Corporation (NNPC) has offered to talk to an international watchdog,Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) that says it failed to hand over billions of dollars in oil revenues.

The Auditor-General and the Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission had last month said NNPC failed to remit billions of dollars to the public purse during the era of former President Goodluck.

But in a recent report, NRGI said NNPC withheld around two thirds of the $6.3 billion of oil proceeds in the second half of 2015. NRGI said that was an increase of 12 per cent from the proportion kept under the administration led by Buhari’s predecessor, Goodluck Jonathan, in 2013 and 2014. The NNPC had previously said such accusations failed to account for its costs.

The constitution requires NNPC to hand over its oil revenue and money is then paid back based on a budget approved by parliament.

But the act establishing the company allows it to cover costs before remitting funds to the government. On Friday NRGI posted a statement on its website in which it said NNPC had offered to hold talks. “NNPC has invited NRGI to meetings where NNPC will clarify its position. NRGI appreciates NNPC’s open doors and willingness to engage, and will post further updates based on these discussions,” it said.

The NRGI report said that until there are agreed rules governing how much money NNPC can keep, and how it must spend the money, it will continue to “leak” out of the system.

“NNPC spending on this scale raises questions about fiscal responsibility, especially at a time when public finances are stretched and the federal government is looking to fund more of its budget with debt,” the report said.

NRGI praised Buhari’s work to reform oil sales, notably efforts to cut out “passive, well-connected middlemen”, and reforms of crude for oil product swap deals that have been replaced with revised agreements directly with oil refineries. (Daily Sun)

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