Subsidy removal: FG has saved N400bn in 4 weeks – Operator

According to operators in the downstream oil and gas sector, the Nigerian federal government has generated N400 billion in the past 30 days as a result of the removal of fuel subsidies.

Chinedu Okonkwo, the National President of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, disclosed this during an interview on Friday. This comes after Mele Kyari, the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, stated in a meeting with oil and gas operators in February that the country was spending N400 billion monthly on fuel subsidies.

Okonkwo commented on the current state of the sector following the subsidy removal and changes in the country’s foreign exchange market. He mentioned that deregulation would have a long-term impact and could result in either an increase or decrease in fuel prices, depending on the market-determined price of foreign exchange. He also noted that the introduction of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in the sector would gradually reduce the impact on the masses.

“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.