The National Economic Council (NEC) has dismissed insinuations that it have taken a position on fuel subsidy, saying a decision will be taken in June.
Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Thursday after a meeting of NEC presided over by vice president Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
He also clarified that the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021 has already taken care of some of the contending issues.
He said, “I think in addition to that, what you have to understand, we didn’t make any presentation on this (fuel subsidy) because there has not been a decision.
“But in reality, all of us Nigerians know that there is now the Petroleum Industry Act. And NNPC has now become, you know, a limited liability company. So NNPC will run differently.
“So if the Minister of Finance, you know, provides for six months, you probably can understand part of the reason for the provision of six months before NNPC fully takes off, and at that moment, that’s when decisions will be made.
“But I want to make the correction that it is not governors who are making recommendations. It is actually a NEC committee, you know, which comprises all the other people that are looking at this and no decision has been made, and probably by the time, a decision will be made.
“You know, the Petroleum Industry Act has fully taken charge, and it will not require any recommendation from anybody,” he added.
During his briefing, Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, further explained that the issue of fuel subsidy has been one matter that NEC has deliberated on, for more than a year now.
According to him, there was an adhoc committee, which was set up by NEC and headed by Governor El-Rufai that included members of the executive arm of government, that worked on recommendations as to what they should do about the costs of PMS.
He said, “the cost of PMS in Nigeria today is about N162 per liter. Whereas every other country surrounding Nigeria is selling the same product at more than 100% of the cost in Nigeria.
“And the country as at last year spent more than almost I mean, we need to have the exact figures, but we must have spent almost N2 trillion subsidising petroleum products.
“That is money that could have gone into building roads, money that could have gone into healthcare and education. So, for NEC, the arguments have been put out, should we continue this regime of spending money, we do not have to subsidise the living standards of only mostly those who have vehicles.
“And when NEC looked at some of the analysis last year, we then realised that less than 1/3 of the states of this country consume two-thirds of the subsidy. So the issue of equity also came up.
“All of these findings were presented to NEC and it has had several deliberations. And the deliberations are still ongoing. So, NEC hasn’t come up with any decision yet. I think recommendations have also been made to the President. That is what I am aware of has transpired so far,” he stated.
