Pres. Tinubu reportedly approves use of NNPC dividends for fuel subsidy

President Bola Tinubu has reportedly given approval to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to use the 2023 final dividends owed to the federation to cover the cost of petrol subsidies.

BusinessDay reports that the president approved a halt on the payment of 2024 interim dividends to the federation to help boost NNPC’s cash flow.

According to the report, the NNPC informed the president that due to the subsidy payments, it is currently unable to pay taxes and royalties into the federation account, referring to this as a “subsidy shortfall/FX differential”.

The report which is based on a forecast from NNPC, obtained by the newspaper, indicated that the total petrol subsidy expenses from August 2023 to December 2024 will amount to N6.884 trillion, leaving the company unable to remit N3.987 trillion in taxes and royalties to the federation account.