The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has described the statement by the Group Managing Director of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Mainkanti Bello, that the NNPC spends 774 million daily on fuel subsidy as a work of fiction.
PDP described the figures and called the purported proliferation of fuel stations used as an alibi for the claimed sudden jump in subsidy pay-out, as fictitious and cleverly fabricated to retire the already exposed stealing of trillions of Naira by the alleged cabal and APC interests in secret oil deals.
The PDP National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in a statement on Monday, said that it was duplicitous for the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to claim a sudden surge in fuel purchase expenses at the same time that the nation faced the harshest fuel shortage across the country with Nigerians paying exorbitantly for the product.
The PDP said, “The APC-led Presidency is drawing its deceptive proclivity and concealment of fraud too far; and to think that such is hatched in a sector that is under the direct supervision of President Muhammadu Buhari as Minister of Petroleum Affairs is most disheartening”.
The party wondered if this is the same presidency that claimed to have abolished fuel subsidy payments and even accused the immediate past administration of alleged corruption in its subsidy management.
“It is therefore strange that the same government can pull out unimaginable figures and claim it is the cost of subsidy enjoyed by Nigerians.”
The statement sought to know how come with such subsidy payments, Nigerians are still paying as high as 250 Naira to 300 Naira per liter on fuel in various parts of the country.
The PDP charged the Buhari-led presidency to come out clear with the truth on the administration of subsidy under its watch.
The statement said Nigerians need to know who in the presidency approved the spending of the said 774 million Naiar per day as fuel subsidy and who the benefiting companies are.
“Is the subsidy captured in any appropriation instrument of the National Assembly? What is the cost of landing imported fuel to the depots and at what exchange rate? Where are the details of the subsidy pay-out and the negotiating options and contracts?”
The statement further explained that in reeling out its figures, the Presidency has forgotten that Nigerians are still waiting for its explanations on the leaked memo showing alleged corrupt oil contract at the NNPC to the tune of nine trillion Naira (25 billion Dollars).
