…seeks ‘living wage’ for workers, 3 functional refineries for local production
The Nigerian Senate Tuesday, decided to probe oil subsidy and under recovery regime operated by the federal government till May 29, 2023 when subsidy was eventually removed as it specifically frowned at N9.3 trillion expended on the subsidy regime by the federal government from January 2021 to June 2023.
Similarly, it is also seeking for living wage for workers as a way of cushioning the effects of subsidy removal as well as the establishment of three functional refineries for local production and distribution of refined oil with a view to bringing down the pump price from N540 per litre to between N300 to N350 per litre.
These resolutions were sequel to a motion sponsored by Senator Chiwuba Ndubueze (APC Imo North).
Senator Ndubueze in the motion titled: “Need to Investigate the controversial Huge Expenditure on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) under the subsidy/under recovery regime by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL)”, said the step taken by President Bola Tinubu on subsidy withdrawal in May, was commendable but the regime needed to be investigated.
He specifically submitted that while within 10 years (2006 – 2015), federal government through NNPCL, claimed N170 billion as under recovery, it expended whopping N843.121billion on under recovery between January 2018 and January 2019.
“Very worrisome of the expenses made on subsidy/ under recovery by NNPCL during period under review, particularly from January 2021 to June 2023, was N9.3 trillion claimed to have been spent.
“The money as shown by available records, shows that in 2021, N1.42trillion was expended, in 2022, N4.3trillion and in the first six months of 2023, N3.6trillion, totaling, N9.3trillion ”
Many of the senators who contributed to debate on the motion, frowned at bogus expenses made on the subsidy regime by NNPCL and supported all the prayers sought for in the motion.
The Senate accordingly resolved that its standing committees on Petroleum (Downstream), Petroleum (Upstream) and Finance, should when constituted, carry out holistic investigation on all controversies surrounding subsidy and under recovery regime.
It also urged the NNPCL in conjunction with some major international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria, to form three different consortiums and build three refineries for stabilization of oil market and the nation’s economy generally.
