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Falana Gives FG Seven Days to Release Spending on Fuel Subsidy

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  • Falana Gives FG Seven Days to Release Spending on Fuel Subsidy

A human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, Wednesday asked the federal government to furnish him with the cost of fuel subsidy and volumes of petroleum products imported into the country between December 2017 and March 2018.

Falana equally rejected conflicting figures the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) claimed to have paid as the cost of subsidy between December 2017 and March 2018.

He made the request in a letter he addressed to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu, yesterday pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.

Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), faulted the country’s consumption rate of petroleum products the NNPC management released between December 2017 and March 2018.

In the two-letter, Falana noted that the NNPC disclosed that the country’s consumption rate of fuel was 28 million litres per day in December 2017 just as the subsidy cost was N726 million per day and N261.4 billion per annum.

He noted that the NNPC Group Managing Director, Dr. Maikanti Baru claimed on March 5 that the figure had metamorphosed to 50 million litres per day and that NNPC had spent $5.8 billion (N1.7 trillion) on fuel importation in January and February.

The senior advocate said the petroleum minister himself stated at a public forum held in Abuja two weeks ago that the consumption rate of fuel has skyrocketed to 60 million and that the cost of subsidy is N1.4 trillion per month!

He said: “We are not unaware that the increasing consumption rate has been blamed on the smuggling of imported fuel from Nigeria to neighbouring countries by some economic saboteurs.

“Assuming without conceding that the story of smuggling is true, the total volume of fuel consumed by Benin, Togo, Cameroon, Niger, Chad and Ghana is said to be less than 250,000 litres per day.

According to the human rights lawyer, “the petroleum minister will agree with me that this does not explain the difference of 32 million litres per day between the consumption rate of imported fuel in December 2017 and March 2018. “

He said: “With respect to the alleged subsidy of fuel importation you failed to disclose the amount realised from the sale of the 60 million litres at N145 per liter. You have also conveniently failed to account for the sale of the 445,000 barrels of crude oil allocated to the NNPC daily by the federal government.”

He rejected the federal government’s claim that a gap of 32 million litres a day (at N145 per litre is N4.6 billion daily) was due to smuggling, saying the claim “is untenable given the billions of naira continually expended on Project Aquila Software by the Petroleum Equalisation Fund to track every litre of petroleum product evacuated from the depots and sold at retail stations in the country.”

Falana rhetorically asked that since the Project Aquila Software “has capability to identify the identity of owners and locations of all trucks loading petroleum products in Nigeria, why has your office and NNPC continue to blame smuggling for the drain of N4.6billion daily on petroleum products?”

The senior advocate, also, demanded “to know how many of the truck owners involved in the alleged smuggling have been arrested and arraigned in court since Aquila has the data base of all truck owners in the country?”

He asked the federal government to furnish him with copies of the following documents: bill of laden and DPR certified cargo discharged certificates of the imported subsidized petroleum products into the country from December 2017-March 2018.

He also requested for copies of Offshore Processing Agreements (OPAs) pertaining to the Sale of the 445,000 barrels of crude oil per day plus any additional crude Barrels approved for domestic consumption between December 2017 and March 2018.

He asked the Ministry of Petroleum Resources to release documents detailing volumes of domestic refined products by the nations’ local refineries against gross expenditure on refinery turn around maintenance and expended budget in 2017.

He sought to know gross amount of forex differential or forex subsidy (gap Between CBN rate and Special rate approved for fuel importation) from December 2017 to March 2018.

He demanded documents to release documents that detailed amount expended by PEF on Project Aquila from inception aimed at tracking Petroleum Trucks nationwide to prevent smuggling of petroleum products.

Is the CEO and Founder of Investors King Limited. He is a seasoned foreign exchange research analyst and a published author on Yahoo Finance, Business Insider, Nasdaq, Entrepreneur.com, Investorplace, and other prominent platforms. With over two decades of experience in global financial markets, Olukoya is well-recognized in the industry.

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Economy

President Tinubu Approves Concrete Redesign for Abuja-Kaduna Road Amid Contract Termination

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The Federal Government has announced plans to address the difficulties faced by road users on the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano road with the redesign of the dual carriageway.

This announcement was made by the Minister of Works, David Umahi via a statement on Wednesday.

The Ministry revealed that the 127 kilometers project has been approved by President Bola Tinubu.

This development comes two days after the Ministry of Works announced the termination of its contract with Julius Berger for the Section I (Abuja-Kaduna) of the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway project in FCT, Kaduna, and Kano States.

Investors King understands that the contract for the rehabilitation of the road was awarded to Messrs Julius Berger (Nig.) Plc on December 20, 2017.

The project, initially valued at N155.7 billion, with a 36-month completion period was further categorized into three sections.

However, only Section II (Kaduna-Zaria) has been completed and partially handed over.

Section III (Zaria-Kano) is partially finished while Section I remains in a severely deteriorated state.

A statement from the Ministry explained that the decision to terminate the contract with Berger was based on non-compliance with reviewed cost, scope, and terms, stoppage of work, and refusal to remobilise to site.

The ministry on Wednesday, November 6, confirmed that Section I has been redesigned and re-scoped.

The statement reads, “The President, His Excellency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR has approved that the remaining 127 kilometres of the Rehabilitation of Abuja – Kaduna – Zaria – Kano Dual Carriageway, Section I (Abuja – Kaduna) be redesigned using continuously reinforced concrete pavement (CRCP) instead of the present asphaltic one.”  

“The contract, divided into three (3) sections, was awarded to Messrs Julius Berger (Nig.) PLC on 20th December 2017 at an initial sum of N155, 748,178,425.50 billion (one hundred and fifty-five billion, seven hundred and forty-eight million, one hundred and seventy-eight thousand, four hundred and twenty-five naira, fifty kobo) with a completion period of thirty-six (36) months.” 

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Tax Expert Warns Tinubu: VAT, PAYE Hikes Will Deepen Hardship for Nigerians

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Company Income Tax (CIT) - Investors King

Due to Nigeria’s economic situation, tax expert Adebisi Oderinde has urged President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to halt plans to increase the VAT and Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) tax rates.

Oderinde, who is also the CEO of AOC-Adebisi Oderinde & Co, made the statement during the inauguration of the company’s Head Office in the Kara area of Ogun State.

He said the country’s economic conditions are challenging and particularly unfavorable for SMEs and warned that implementing tax reform could destabilize many small businesses as inflation has already eroded purchasing power in Nigeria.

With over 28 years of experience as a tax consultant, Oderinde noted that new tax reforms would likely worsen hardship across the country.

“My advice is to make hay while the sun shines, as the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and slow and steady wins the race. The country is hard! As a tax practitioner, I continue to pray for our President, but he must heed the advice of elders, especially when it concerns tax reform,” he said.

“This is not the right time to reform any tax, nor to adjust rates. Nigerians’ purchasing power is very low. While some may think of VAT reform as beneficial, it would have a negative impact, especially on Lagos State. One part of the reform aims to cancel the consumption tax, which would hit Lagos hard, as the state earns more from consumption tax than any other state in the federation,” he added.

Oderinde further advised northern Nigeria not to support the proposed policy, warning it could disproportionately affect the region.

“They also want to increase PAYE, and recent data from the NBS in 2023 shows that the total IGR from the 36 states plus the FCT is about N2.4tn, with PAYE accounting for about 63%. If PAYE is raised, it will impact many states significantly. Instead of focusing on VAT, the northern states should consider that an increase in PAYE would affect them even more than VAT,” he explained.

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Power Restored Hours After Lastest Grid Collapse

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Electricity - Investors King

Electricity has been restored in some parts of the states that were hitherto affected by the nation’s power grid collapse.

Investors King gathered that some states including Lagos, Osun, Federal Capital Territory among others now have light.

Recall that the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had on Tuesday announced the latest National Grid collapse.

Checks by Investors King, however, revealed that the last disruption was the tenth time Nigeria would be experiencing total blackout due to grid collapse in about nine months in 2024 alone.

The situation has been raising concerns from Nigerians and other stakeholders even as others alleged that the collapse has led to inferno in people’s homes among other property destruction.

The General Manager of TCN Public Affairs, Ndidi Mbah, had assured members of the public that the grid collapse which occurred at 1:52 pm on November 5 would be speedily fixed.

The GM revealed that the grid collapse was caused by line and generator trippings, adding that efforts were on to rectify it.

Mbah had disclosed how the national grid experienced a partial disturbance due to a series of line and generator trippings that caused instability in the grid and, consequently, the partial disturbance of the system.

Each time the disruption through citizens into darkness, businesses are affected as many Nigerians task the Federal Government to tackle the menace.

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