FG Must Justify Fresh N3tn Vote, Others For Fuel Subsidy — Senate
The Senate has said the Federal Government will have to justify the fresh demand for N3tn for the extension of the subsidy on petrol before it is approved by the National Assembly.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs, Ajibola Basiru, made this known against the backdrop of the controversy surrounding the actual volume of petrol, which Nigeria consumed daily.
The government is billed to present executive bills to the parliament to amend the 2022 Appropriation Act and the Petroleum Industry Act, as part of the move to extend the subsidy regime, following the protests that greeted its planned removal.
Already, the House of Representatives, last week, resolved to investigate the correct daily consumption volume and the actual state of the nation’s four refineries. The Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, had set up two ad hoc committees to carry out the probes separately within six and eight weeks, respectively.
Speaking to one of our correspondents on Sunday, the Senate’s spokesman stated that whatever the executive proposed would not enjoy automatic approval.
When asked if the Senate would determine the actual volume of products consumed daily before approving the coming requests, Basiru said, “Every request made to the National Assembly will be scrutinised by the relevant committees before we take a decision.
“We will scrutinise all the requests and see whether they are justifiable or not, in line with our constitutional mandate and oversight function.”
When asked if it would not be automatic for the National Assembly to approve the requests, Basiru said, “It is not automatic, of course! We will scrutinise whatever they bring and see whether they are justifiable.”
Chairman of the ad hoc committee set up by the House to determine the actual petrol consumption volume, Abdulkadir Abdullahi, said the panel would commence work this week.
Following the Federal Government’s decision to extend payment subsidy on petroleum products, as part of the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act to deregulate the downstream sector, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited has presented a bill of N3tn to the Federal Executive Council as a requirement for 2022.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Dr Zainab Ahmed, on Wednesday, disclosed that the FEC meeting presided over by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), considered the request to provide additional funding for the government to meet incremental fuel subsidy payment in the 2022 Appropriation Act.
Ahmed noted that only N44bn is presently available in the 2022 budget meant to accommodate subsidies from January to June.
The minister also explained that with the harsh economic realities on the ground and the dearth of structures to support subsidy removal, the NNPC requested N3tn from the Ministry of Finance for 2022.
