Business

REVEALED: How Buhari Spent N8trn On ‘Non-existent’ Petrol Subsidies

Published

1 year ago

May 6, 2023

Editor

…He lacked understanding at inception, says expert

Before he won the 2015 presidential election, President Muhammadu Buhari led the opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) in grand opposition to the removal of petrol subsidies.

President Buhari’s contention then was that there was no subsidy on petrol and that the government then under President Goodluck Jonathan was corrupt and was looking for ways to fraudulently enrich themselves at the expense of the Nigerian masses.

Eight years down the line and with just days before the end of his two terms in government, President Buhari is leaving the country with the highest amount spent on subsidizing petrol in Nigeria’s history.

According to oil and gas industry reports conducted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), the cost of petrol subsidy from 2015 to 2020 was N1.99 trillion.

Also reports by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC), showed that petrol subsidy cost N1.57 trillion in 2021 alone and another N1.27 trillion from January to May 2022. The government has a budget of N3 trillion to cover petrol subsidy costs from June 2022 to June 2023.

An aggregation of the entire costs showed that under President Buhari the government would have spent N7.83 trillion on petrol subsidies.

Refineries remain moribund despite promises

In 2015, while Nigeria’s four refineries located in Port Harcourt, Warri and Kaduna operated below full capacity, they produced about six million litres of petrol daily for local consumption with President Buhari through the then Minister of State Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu assuring Nigerians that the refineries would return to full capacity by the end of that year. It never happened.

In 2017, the refineries were partially shut down for maintenance but two years later in 2019 with no headway, the refineries were completely grounded.

The President leaves in about three week’s time with the refineries still under rehabilitation and badly mismanaged. In 2021, helped by loans from the African Development Bank, NNPC announced that it would completely overhaul the Port Harcourt refinery at the cost of $1.5 billion. The refineries in Warri and Kaduna are also under-going similar process.

Expert speaks

Speaking to Saturday Vanguard, oil and gas governance expert, Mr. Henry Adigun said by his failure to resolve the petrol subsidy issues in eight years, President Buhari is leaving the situation worse than he met it.

Mr. Adigun said the politics and emotion around the issue have pushed the country into huge debt burden, adding President Buhari lacked an understanding of how big the issue was and how it could be tackled.

According to him, “The first thing is you cannot manage properly what you do not understand. Most times our politicians talk from emotion and lack of fact. At times they do not take professional advice and would let you know how long they have been in government.

“The man didn’t believe there was a subsidy and they all assumed it was corruption but when they came in and it stared them in the face then they learned and when they learned they now had to make harsh decisions. Buhari made one in 2016 when he raised (pump price) from N87 to N145 but he didn’t sustain. That point in time was the time to allow it to go once and for all but he capped it.

“By capping it and not providing enough foreign exchange for other importers, but allowed only NNPC to become the sole importer of the product in the country, they made the situation worse. That led to the problem they are having now.

“What they have done in the last eight years is to make it worse for the country, make it worse for the incoming administration. They have ballooned the cost and the volume. They failed because they never understood the problem and they made it political”.

He explained that NNPC became the sole importer of petrol due to economic reason, stressing that the difference the exchange rate approved for the NNPC compared to the other importers made impracticable for the others to import and remain profitable.

Adigun therefore urged the incoming administration to settle first settle down and understand the problem before taking a decision on the petrol subsidy challenge.

He noted that the government should eventually hands off any role in the downstream sector and allow the private sector run for the growth and economic development of the country.

“The cash the private sector has can bail Nigeria out but the private sector will not invest in area where they cannot get good returns. Look around you in Abuja and Lagos, you will see everybody investing real estate or fintech; that is because it is where they can get good returns. It is not the business of the government to build or rehabilitate refineries”, he added.

He advocated phased removal of subsidy rather than having it in one swoop, stressing that in the past two years government has increased electricity tariff several times thereby eliminating the subsidy on power.

“Let’s have something like a three months phased removal, because it will become a political issue with labour unions opposed to it”, he stated, warning that the new government would struggle to fund its operations except it resorts to huge borrowing policy like Buhari has done.

TABLE – Petrol
Subsidy under Buhari
2015 ——————— N316.70 bn
2016———————- N99.00bn
2017 ——————— N141.63 bn
2018 ——————— N722.30 bn
2019 ——————— N578.07 bn
2020 ——————— N133.73bn
2021 —————— N1.573trn
VANGUARD

Business

Naira Slumps, Exchanges At Over N1,500 Against Dollar

Published

2 days ago

May 13, 2024

Editor

The naira continued its depreciation against the US dollar in the foreign exchange market.

Data from the parallel market section and FMDQ showed further depreciation against the dollar on Monday.

At the parallel market, a Bureau De Change operator in Wuse Zone 4, Mistila Dayyabu, told DAILY POST that the naira was sold as high as N1,517 per dollar on Monday before settling at N1,500 per dollar.

“On Monday morning, the dollar was sold at N1,517 per dollar. However, on hearing the information about the coming of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission operatives, we started selling at N1,500 this evening, ” he said.

The figure increased from the N1, 450 per dollar it traded at the weekend.

Similarly, at the official market, FMDQ data showed that they dipped to N1478.11 per dollar on Monday from N1466.31 last Friday.

This represents an N11.8 drop from the N1466.31 recorded last Friday.

Earlier, the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, said the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee will do everything to bring down soaring Nigeria’s inflation, which stood at 33.22 per cent in March 2024.

Business

CAC Opens Centre For Registration Of PoS Operators

Published

1 week ago

May 9, 2024

Editor

The Corporate Affairs Commission has inaugurated a centre for bulk registration of Point of Sale operators in its database.

The CAC Registrar-General, Hussaini Magaji, said this while inaugurating the centre stationed at its Federal Capital Territory Office in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to Magaji, the importance of registering the PoS operators in the commission’s database cannot be over emphasised.

He said the centre was well equipped with all the necessary facilities to operate 24 hours a day and ensure the commission’s achievement of its purpose.

“What we did was accommodate the request from the Fintechs.

“We have allowed them to integrate with the Corporate Affairs Commission; they have developed their structure, and we gave them access.

“Once they supply the necessary details for registration on their platform, the certificate is generally generated and transmitted directly to their platform without them having to contact anyone.

“We have done this to ensure that everyone gets it easy without hitches, but if they choose to apply manually, we have a secretariat open for them to do so,” he stated.

Recall that the Federal Government through the CAC on Tuesday issued a two-month registration deadline to Point of Sales companies, to register their agents, merchants, and individuals with the commission in line with legal requirements and the directives of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Meanwhile, at the event, the registrar-general reiterated that the centre would be opened to all operators in the fintech industry who voluntarily submitted their agents and merchants for regularisation with the CAC.

Magaji said that the registration was in line with President Bola Tinubu’s desire to ensure financial inclusion for the youth and strengthen the fight against fraud, finance and other crimes in the country.

He further expressed his resolve to ensure compliance with the provisions of Section 863 (1) of the Companies and Allied Matters, CAMA 2020, and the CBN guidelines for Agent Banking, 2013.

On security, the CAC boss said that if a crime were committed using the PoS, the government would easily trace the perpetrators to the CAC data platform if such machines were registered.

“If an incident happens and they report it to CAC, if we do not have the operator’s details, we cannot respond, and that is the essence of this registration.

“The registration ensures that every detail of the person is provided, including NIN, passport photograph and all other useful documents.

“And it is an opportunity for more people to be captured into the formal sector,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Special Adviser to the President on ICT Development and Innovation, Tokoni Peter attended the event.

The event was attended by Dr Salihu Dasuki, the Special Adviser to the President on ICT Policy Office, the PoS operators, and other stakeholders.

(NAN)

Business

FULL LIST: CBN Publishes List Of Licensed Deposit Money Banks

Published

1 week ago

May 8, 2024

Editor

The Central Bank of Nigeria has released a comprehensive list of licensed Deposit Money Banks operating within the country.

The list, which was made public on the CBN’s official website on Tuesday, provides insights into the banking landscape in Nigeria.

Banks with international authorisation include Access Bank Limited, Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank Limited, First Bank Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Limited, United Bank of Africa Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc.

Commercial banks with national authorisation include Citibank Nigeria Limited, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Heritage Bank Plc, Globus Bank Limited, Keystone Bank Limited, Polaris Bank Limited, Stanbic IBTC Bank Limited, Standard Chartered Bank Limited, Sterling Bank Limited, Titan Trust Bank Limited, Union Bank of Nigeria Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, Premium Trust Bank Limited and Optimus Bank Limited.

Commercial banks with regional licenses are Providus Bank Limited, Parallex Bank Limited, Suntrust Bank Nigeria Limited, and Signature Bank Limited.

Players in the non-interest banking sector with national authorisation include Jaiz Bank Plc, Taj Bank Limited, Lotus Bank Limited, and Alternative Bank Limited.

In the merchant banking category, the apex banks listed, are Coronation Merchant Bank Limited, FBN Merchant Bank Limited, FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, Greenwich Merchant Bank Limited, Nova Merchant Bank Limited, and Rand Merchant Bank Limited.

The financial holding companies listed were Access Holdings Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, FCMB Group Plc, FSDH Holding Company Limited, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc, and Sterling Financial Holdings Limited.

The Mauritius Commercial Bank Representative Office (Nigeria) Limited was listed as the sole representative office.