Mr. Aminu Tambuwal, speaker of the House of Representatives, has said that available records indicated that the Federal Government spent over N1 trillion on kerosene subsidy between 2010 and 2013.
Tambuwal said in spite of the expenditure not having the approval of the National Assembly, the product was not available for “suffering Nigerians” to buy.
He also noted that the product was not sold in any part of the country at the subsidised price of N50 per litre.
Tambuwal who was represented by Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, his deputy spoke in Abuja as the House Committee on Petroleum Resources (Downstream) opened an investigation into subsidy payments on kerosene between 2010 and 2013.
The committee, which is headed by Mr. Dakuku Peterside, has the mandate to establish the actual amount spent on subsidy by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, the sole supplier of the product, and how it got the authority to subsidise it.
“Curiously, since there were no budgetary provisions for subsidy on kerosene, the people of Nigeria will obviously be interested in knowing the source of funding of kerosene subsidy and on whose authority such money was appropriated.” Tambuwal added
Mr. Andrew Yakubu, group managing director of the NNPC, evaded questions on the actual amount of money spent on subsidy during the years under review.
Mr. Haruna Momoh, managing Ddrector of the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, gave the figures of kerosene supplied in the respective years as follows: 2010 (2.5 trillion metric tones); 2011 (1.9 trillion metric tonnes); 2012 (2.6 trillion metric tonnes); and 2013 (2.6 trillion metric tonnes).
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