Kachikwu Clarifies Statement On N1.4tr Petrol Subsidy Claim

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachikwu says that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is in the best position to give under-recovery figures.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Under-recovery is the difference (subsidy) paid on products when purchased at a high price and sold below cost price.

Kachikwu made this known in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja by Mr Idang Alibi, the Director, Press and Public Relations in the ministry.

He said attention had been drawn to reports in which he was quoted to have said “Nigeria presently incurs over N1.4 trillion till date as under-recovery or losses on the importation and sale of petrol”.

At a workshop on the “Harmonisation of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Regulatory Requirements’’ held in Abuja on April 5, Kachikwu in a chat with newsmen disclosed that there was some form of under-recovery.

He equally stated that the details of the under-recovery figures and circumstances surrounding it would be provided by the NNPC.

He said NNPC was in a best position to give the accurate figures of the amount of under-recovery involved because the body was importing most of the Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) retailed in Nigeria.

“It is time for Nigeria to harness alternative fuel sources like (LPG) as under-recovery from the importation and sale of petrol at the government-regulated price of N145 per litre has hit N1.4 trillion.

“Clean energy is very essential and we need to move away from complete utilisation in our transport sector of only petrol.

“This is creating a lot of under-recovery of N1.4 trillion per annum of exposure to the government,’’ he said.