Boma Achenimie 
President Bola Tinubu has approved the request by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to use the 2023 dividends to fund the petrol subsidy.
The 2023 dividends, which were originally intended to be paid into the federation account and shared among the three tiers of government, will now be redirected.
This decision comes as the federal government continues to deny the existence of a petrol subsidy, despite President Tinubu’s declaration that “subsidy is gone” during his inauguration on May 29, 2023.
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Recall that reported that Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, in an interview, said the gap between the landing cost and what petrol is sold by filling stations is covered by “some organization”.
According to The Cable, the President also approved the suspension of the payment of 2024 interim dividends to the federation in order to augment NNPC’s cash flow.
“In addition, the national oil company told the president it will be unable to remit taxes and royalties to the federation account for now because of the subsidy payments, which it termed subsidy shortfall/FX differential.
“An NNPC forecast seen by the newspaper showed that the cumulative petrol subsidy bill from August 2023 will hit ₦6.884 trillion by December 2024 — leaving the national oil company unable to remit ₦3.987 trillion in taxes and royalties to the federation account,” the report said.
The report added that “NNPC is expected to pause the payment of interim dividends for eight months this year — from May to December“.
