NNPC denies dispute with marketers, says subsidy ‘entirely removed’

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it did not clash with any party over petrol subsidy removal.

Media reports, on Wednesday morning, had said the national oil company clashed with oil marketers over whether the federal government was paying subsidy on petrol or otherwise.

In a terse statement shared with TheCable, the oil firm denied having such a fallout with oil marketers.

“The publication sought confirmation on alleged subsidy reduction, to which NNPC responded that subsidy has been entirely removed,” Olufemi Soneye, NNPC’s chief corporate communications officer, said.

In his inauguration speech in May 2023, President Bola Tinubu had announced that “petrol subsidy is gone”.

However, the full implementation of the policy has been mired in doubts, with the World Bank arguing that the subsidy removal was partial.

But on October 9, 2023, Mele Kyari, NNPC’s group chief executive officer (GCEO), said the federal government was not making any under-recovery payments.

He had also said the national oil company was recovering its full cost from imported products.

“No subsidy whatsoever. We are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market,” Kyari said.

“We understand why marketers are unable to import. We hope that they begin to do so very quickly and these are some of the interventions government is making. There is no subsidy.”

On October 21, 2023, Tinubu had said the removal of subsidy on petrol was imperative to prevent Nigeria’s collapse.