There are indications that the Federal Government through the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) is now spending N17.72 billion daily to fund subsidies on petrol.
Though still shrouded in secrecy, the funding strategy, 9News Nigeria learned, is consummated by way of crude sales and direct cost recovery by NNPC.
An executive of a major petroleum marketing company in Lagos revealed to our correspondent that the N17.7 billion subsidy cost represents the difference between the landing cost of imported petroleum products and the effective wholesale price to petroleum marketers.
Nigeria imports all the petrol it consumes and according to the Chief Executive, of Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, daily petrol consumption in the country is around 44.3 million liters.
At the current average deport price and exchange rate, the FG through NNPC may be incurring about N531 billion in losses or revenue shortfall monthly.