President Bola Tinubu has given the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) the green light to use the 2023 dividends due to the federation for petrol subsidy payments.
Additionally, the president has approved the suspension of the 2024 interim dividend payments to the federation to bolster the oil company’s cash flow.
This development comes despite Tinubu’s announcement during his May 29, 2023, inaugural address that the fuel subsidy would be removed. However, reports suggest that the government continues to spend billions on subsidies, although it has consistently denied such payments.
In response to recent nationwide protests against economic hardship, which included demands for the reinstatement of the subsidy, Tinubu reiterated in a national broadcast that the subsidy would not be restored.
He acknowledged the decision to remove the subsidy as painful but necessary, describing it as a “noose around the economic jugular” of Nigeria that had stifled economic growth and development.
