FG's ₦13 trillion subsidy payment equivalent to budget of 4 ministries - NEITI

The Executive secretary of Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI ) Orji Ogbonnaya Orji revealed this during the policy dialogue on the Utilization of Beneficial Ownership Data in the Fight Against Corruption in Nigeria’s Crude Swap Deals held in Abuja on Thursday, April 13, 2023.

Orji said the fund spent on subsidies during the period was equivalent to the country’s entire budget for the Health, Agriculture, Education and Defence ministries in five years.

The NEITI boss argued for the need to effect the full deregulation of the petroleum sector, a move that will end the clamour for subsidy removal.

“The full deregulation of the petroleum sector will permanently lay to rest the conversation around oil swaps.

“NEITI’s latest policy brief titled ‘The cost of fuel subsidy: A case for policy review’ revealed that Nigeria expended over ₦13 trillion ($74 billion) on fuel subsidies between 2005 and 2021.

“The figure in relative terms is equivalent to Nigeria’s entire budget for health, education, agriculture, and defence in the last five years, and almost the capital expenditure for 10 years between 2011 2020.” he added.

Speaking further, Orji revealed that Nigeria lost ₦16.25 trillion to crude oil theft between 2009 and 2020, a period of 12 years.

He also added that the country lost 4.2 billion litres of petroleum products from refineries valued at $1.84 billion between 2009 and 2018.

“The NEITI policy brief on crude oil theft and data pulled from NEITI industry reports of the oil and gas sector showed that between 2009 and 2020 (12-year period), Nigeria lost 619.7 million barrels of crude oil valued at $46.16 billion or ₦16.25 trillion,” he said.

Orji also noted that the Presidential committee on crude oil theft has been briefed on the findings and recommendations on tackling crude oil theft and a report submitted to the President on the matter.