Subsidy removal: FG saves N400bn in four weeks…

The Federal Government has so far saved about N400bn as a result of the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, since May 31, 2023, when the initiative was officially implemented, oil marketers stated on Thursday.

Also, the oil dealers stated that there was a high possibility for the cost of petrol to rise in July, going by the recent floating of the naira against the United States dollar by the Federal Government.

The Central Bank of Nigeria unified the country’s exchange rates into the Investors and Exporters window on June 14, 2023, allowing market forces to determine the exchange rate.

Operators in the downstream oil sector said that on Tuesday, going by the revelation of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limted as regards the amount being spent previously on subsidy every month, Nigeria had now saved hundreds of billions after halting the subsidy regime in May.

“Right now they (the government) are making money. At least with this removal of subsidy, the government has racked in hundreds of billions, whether in naira or dollar. This is because every month we know how much they lose before,” the National President, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chinedu Okonkwo, stated.

Okonkwo said that marketers had been told how much the NNPCL was spending on subsidy monthly, referring to the comments of the firm’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, during a meeting with oil sector operators in February.

Commenting on petrol imports by independent marketers, Okonkwo stated that the oil dealers were holding meetings about this.

Although Okonkwo admitted that petrol price would rise in response to forex rates, he argued that the removal of subsidy would not only lead to a continuous increase in PMS cost.

On his part, the President, Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, Billy Gillis-Harry, said that the cost of PMS would respond to the exchange rate, as the product would rise in price going by the current forex rate.