The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) on Monday disclosed that the Federal Government owes it some N170.6 billion in outstanding subsidy payments withheld for at least nine years.
The debts, according to NNPC’s Group Managing Director, Dr Maikanti Baru, come from subsidies government was meant to have paid it from January 2006 to December 2015, said
A statement signed by Spokesman of the Corporation, Ndu Ughamadu quoted Baru to have said the figure was arrived at after deduction of N4.950 trillion received as payments from the N5.121 trillion approved subsidy claims of the Corporation from January 2006 to December 2015.
Providing details of the accruals, Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation, Isiaka AbdulRazaq, traced the advent of the subsidy regime to October, 2003 when NNPC was directed by government to commence the purchase of domestic crude oil at international market price without a corresponding liberalization of the regulated price of petroleum products.
The statement added that under the subsidy regime, NNPC and other suppliers of refined petroleum products were entitled to file subsidy claims to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).