The National Economic Council (NEC) has said any decision on the removal of petrol subsidy will be taken in June when the provision for its payment in the 2022 budget expires.
The NEC said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Limited must be run differently since it is now an limited liability company.
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The Governor of Nasarawa State, Abdulahi Sule, provided the information Thursday, while responding to questions from State House correspondents on the outcome of the meeting presided over by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He said it was understandable that the provision for the payment of the subsidy is made in the 2022 budget only until June.
Governor Sule, who was joined at the post-NEC press briefing by his Edo state counterpart, Godwin Obaseki, said the National Economic Council was yet to take a position on it despite its series of deliberations on the matter.
Obaseki, while reacting to questions, said Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which sells for N162-165 per liter in Nigeria, sells a hundred percent higher in other countries.
He said the federal government was spending about N2 trillion on petroleum subsidy, an amount, he said could have been used for other purposes.
According to him, the NEC, therefore, wondered whether that should be allowed to continue in a situation where he observed only two thirds of the states of the federation consume the subsidy.
Details later…
