Dele Oye: N17.5trn Owed NNPC by FG Is Fuel Subsidy in Disguise

•Says Nigeria running most expensive subsidy programme in history

Emmanuel Addeh in Abuja

Chairman of Alliance for Economic Research and Ethics Ltd/GTE, Dele Oye, has said the N17.5 trillion debt owed Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC) by the federal government is a disguised fuel subsidy.

The erstwhile President of Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), in a statement, said Nigeria was currently operating the most expensive subsidy programme in its history, despite the government’s claimed removal of fuel subsidy.

Oye, who is also the immediate past President of Organised Private Sector of Nigeria (OPSN), in the statement, said the huge liability, accumulated through what NNPC described as “energy security expenses,” “under-recovery” and other receivables, represented a continuation of the subsidy regime under a different name.