Petrol: Federal Government To Stop Subsidy By June 2022

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed says complete deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry would commence next July 2022.

Zainab, who announced this at a panel session during the 27th Nigerian Economic Summit (NES#27) in Abuja, said the Government would cater for subsidy on petrol only in the first six months of 2022.

Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council, EAC Doyin Salami, while  speaking at the session, said he had argued for a long time that the subsidy needed to go, noting that  the Petroleum Industry Act, PIA made the payment of subsidy of petrol illegal.

It was reported that in seven months, 714 billion naira was spent on petrol subsidy payments, reduction monthly revenue accrued to the federation account.

Also, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, which is the sole importer of petrol, has been deducting subsidy payments from oil and gas proceeds due to the three tiers of government, as  there is no provision for it in the 2021 budget.

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