A review of NNPCL’s 2024 financial statement shows the Tinubu administration spent N7.1 trillion on fuel subsidies labeled as “energy security expense,” despite repeatedly claiming subsidy removal.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) financial statement for 2024 reveals that the Tinubu government spent N7.1 trillion on fuel subsidy, recorded as “energy security expense,” despite insisting that petroleum subsidies had been removed.
The report explains that the expense occurs “when there is differential between exchange rate used to freeze the Premium Motor Spirit ex-coastal price and the prevailing exchange rate at point of import settlement,” and that “the amount is charged against what should have been paid to the federation accounts monthly.”
This figure surpasses the N4.8 trillion recorded in 2023 and becomes the highest subsidy spending in two decades, far exceeding the previous peak of N3.36 trillion paid in 2022. Although President Bola Tinubu declared subsidy removal on May 29, 2023, it remains unclear why subsidy-related expenses have grown even higher since then.