Federal Government leaving pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) unchanged in the first five months of this year despite the increase in global oil prices, subsidy on the product is estimated to gulp N500bn in the period.

With the Federal Government leaving the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) unchanged in the first five months of this year despite the increase in global oil prices, subsidy on the product is estimated to gulp N500bn in the period.

The Group Managing Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Mele Kyari, said on March 25 that the Federal Government was subsidising petrol with about N100bn to N120bn monthly.

Going by the petrol pricing template of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, the landing cost of petrol rose from an average of N143.60 in December to N158.53 per litre on January 7, with the expected open market price (retail price) being N181.53 per litre.

For more than three years, NNPC has been the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria, and depot owners, major and independent oil marketers rely on it for the supply of the product