Senator Ndubueze commended President Tinubu for the courageous step he took on the removal of subsidy but, noted the need to carry out an investigation into payments made as subsidy in the previous administration.
The Senate on Tuesday resolved to holistically investigate all controversies surrounding subsidy and under-recovery regime by the government of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
This is as it decried the N9.3 trillion expended by on subsidy regime from January 2021 to May 29, 2023.
The lawmakers also called for the establishment of three functional refineries for local production and distribution of refined oil to enable reduction in pump price from N540 per liter to between N300 and N350 per litre, and to mitigate the effects of the removal of subsidy.
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This resolution sequels a motion titled, “Need to investigate the controversial Huge Expenditure on Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) under the subsidy/under recovery regime by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).“
Sponsor of the motion, Senator Chiwuba Ndubueze (APC, Imo North) in his lead debate, said the step taken by President Bola Tinubu on subsidy withdrawal in May, is commendable but, there is a need to investigate the regime.
Ndubueze also noted that within ten years (2006-2015), the Federal Government through NNPCL claimed about N170billion as under-recovery and within 13 months (January 2018 and January 2019), also claimed a whopping sum of N843.121billion as under-recovery.
Ndubueze and a few other Senators frowned at the excessive expenses of N9.3 trillion made on the subsidy regime by the Federal Government from January 2021 to June 2023.
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“It is very worrisome that the expenses made on subsidy under recovery by NNPCL during the period under review, particularly from January 2021 to June 2023, was N9.3trillion claimed to have been spent.
“The money as shown by available records, reveals that in 2021, N1.42trillion was expended, in 2022, N4.3trillion and in the first six months of 2023, N3.6 trillion, totaling N9.3 trillion “
The red chamber further resolved that its standing committees on Petroleum (Downstream), Petroleum (Upstream) and Finance, when constituted, will carry out holistic investigation on all controversies surrounding subsidy and under-recovery regime.
It also urged the NNPCL, in conjunction with some major international oil companies (IOCs) in Nigeria, to form three different consortiums and build three refineries for the stabilisation of the oil market and the Nation’s economy generally.
