Nigeria spent N1.59 trillion ($3.83 billion) on fuel subsidies in the first half of the year and accrued a $1.2 billion funding shortfall for oil and natural gas projects, a report by the Nigerian National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) showed last week.
The report, which was presented to the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) early last week and seen by Reuters, underscores Nigeria’s budgetary trouble from spiralling fuel costs and limited oil production.
The document showed that as a result of rising subsidy costs, NNPC had not remitted money to federal accounts all year.
Last year, Nigeria was spending about N100 billion per month on fuel subsidies.
NNPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, delayed eliminating fuel subsidies in January amid rising inflation in the run-up to next year’s presidential election.
The country imports all of its refined products because local refineries have been mothballed for years.
In April, President Muhammadu Buhari requested an additional N4 trillion to cover subsidies due to higher fuel prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That money is meant to last until the end of his administration in late May.
Nigeria’s oil production, which typically provides half of government revenue and more than 90 per cent of its foreign exchange, has faltered in the past two years due to low investment and theft from pipelines.
