About N864bn was spent by the NNPC Limited to subsidise Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol, in eight months this year.
But for the subsidy, the money would have been remitted to the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).
The FAAC allocation is a pool where federal revenue generating agencies remit their proceeds which include oil revenue, taxes, port charges, Customs and Excise revenues, among others. This revenue is then shared among the federal, state and local governments.
Nigeria is in tight corner amid divergent views on the desirability and otherwise of subsidising petrol.
Many analysts and international organisations have variously called for the scrapping of the subsidy because it mops enormous resources that ought to be used to diversify the economy and help the poor to prosper.
The country imports most of the petrol it consumes and pays with proceeds from crude oil sales.
Experts believe there are many discrepancies in the chain of activities leading to the importation of petrol products, payment and distribution.
They said the only way to get it right is by ensuring that Nigeria’s refineries are working and leakages blocked.
