Operators: Fuel subsidy removal saves FG N400bn in four weeks

Operators in the downstream oil and gas sector have reported that the federal government has generated N400 billion as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy in the last 30 days.

Chinedu Okonkwo, National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, disclosed this in an interview with DAILY POST on Friday.

Recall that in a meeting with oil and gas operators in February, Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPCL, had stated that the country spends N400 billion monthly on fuel subsidies.

Speaking on the state of the sector owing to the removal of the subsidy and changes in the country’s foreign exchange market, Okonkwo said that the deregulation has a long time impact.

According to him, the development would either lead to an increase in fuel price or a decrease depending on the market-determined price of forex

He added that the impact on the masses would gradually decrease by introducing Compressed Natural Gas, CNG, into the sector.

“You know how much the government is spending monthly on fuel subsidies payment, but that expenditure to the tune of dollars or Naira will be saved.

“The government has indeed reduced spending on fuel subsidies, though the thing is biting, so we have drafted an alternative in Compressed Natural Gas, CNG,” he said.