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NNPC spent N864.07bn on subsidy in nine months – report

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation spent a total of N864.07bn between January and September to subsidise Premium Motor Spirit, popularly known as petrol.

This amount represents 31 per cent of the total revenue of N2.7tn generated by the corporation between January and September.

An analysis of a report submitted by the corporation to the Federation Account Allocation Committee at its last meeting showed that the NNPC did not incur petrol subsidy cost in January, but spent N25.37bn on subsidising the product in February.

The subsidy cost jumped to N60.39bn and N61.96bn and N126.29bn in March, April, and May respectively.

The NNPC spent N164.33bn, N103.28bn, N173.13bn and N149.28bn on PMS subsidy in June, July, August and September.

In the 2021 budget, no provision was made for fuel subsidy.

Since November last year, the price of PMS has remained unchanged despite the increase in crude oil prices in the international market.

As of the time the fuel subsidy was removed in June last year, the price of crude oil was about $45 per barrel.

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But as of Wednesday, the price of Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, stood at $82.17 per barrel.

The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Assembly, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had in July during the public consultation of the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework/Fiscal Strategy Paper for 2022-2024 described the amount spent on subsiding petrol as a drain on the economy.

She said N900bn would be spent next year on subsidising the product, adding that such could have been spent on more productive sectors of the economy such as health, education and infrastructure.

An analysis of the 2022 Federal Government spending showed that the projected subsidy budget of N900bn is higher than the N292.7bn for sinking fund, N750.03bn allocated for personnel cost for government-owned enterprises, and N335bn overheads cost.

It is also higher than the N261.2bn budgeted for overhead costs for government-owned enterprises; N567.02bn for pension, gratuities and retirees; and N366.13bn capital supplementation budget.

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Ahmed said, “This (subsidy) is costing us big time. We are spending over N150bn on subsidy, that means NNPC has to use that amount of money to pay for PMS and distributing it. That is money that the federation account can share.

“This is money that could have been available for education, health and infrastructure, reduce our borrowing, and increase the amounts that states and local governments are collecting.

“We are being penny-wise, pound-foolish to think that by giving this subsidy, that citizens are benefitting. But by the end of the day, the citizens are actually the ones that are carrying the brunt of the wealthy.”

The finance minister lamented that while subsidy was supposed to be enjoyed by the poor, those actually benefiting from it were the rich people in the society.

She added, “Some (the rich) have two, three, four cars and they are the ones that we are subsidising. It is not helping the farmer who needs a bus from his farm to the market. But we need to get rid of subsidy completely, although it is not a popular view with labour.

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“Right now, we are subsidising consumption in Nigeria; we sell at N165 per litre when our neighbours are selling at N500 per litre. It is only the marketers that are benefiting by taking this product from Nigeria and selling it across borders. The common man is not benefiting.

“The transition is not an easy one, if we have to remove the subsidy. What are the alternatives? What can we provide for citizens? So, we are projecting we’ll be paying at least N900bn subsidy for next year.”

Business

CBN raises commercial banks’ capital base to N500bn

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has announced an upward review of the minimum capital requirements for commercial, merchant and non-interest banks.

In a statement on Thursday, CBN said the increase was necessary due to prevailing macroeconomic challenges and headwinds occasioned by external and domestic shocks.

The statement was signed by Haruna Mustafa, director, financial policy and regulation department.

According to the apex bank, the upward review will enhance their resilience, solvency and capacity to continue to support the growth of the Nigerian economy.

CBN increased the capital base for commercial banks with international licences to N500 billion, while national and regional financial institutions’ capital bases were pegged at N200 billion and N50 billion, respectively.

 

The financial regulator said the capital base for national and regional non-interest banks is N20 billion and n10 billion, respectively.

To meet the minimum capital requirements, CBN advised banks to consider the injection of “fresh equity capital through private placements, rights issue and/or offer for subscription”.

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CBN also suggested merger and acquisition (M&A), as well as upgrade or downgrade of licences.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR EXISTING BANKS

The minimum capital specified above shall comprise paid-up capital and share premium only. For the avoidance of doubt, the new capital requirement shall not be based on shareholders’ funds.

Additional tier 1 (AT1) capital shall not be eligible for the purpose of meeting the new requirement.
All banks are required to meet the minimum capital requirement within a period of 24 months commencing from April 1, 2024 and terminating on March 31, 2026.

Notwithstanding the capital increase, banks are to ensure strict compliance with the minimum capital adequacy ratio (CAR) requirement applicable to their license authorization.

In line with extant regulations, banks that breach the CAR requirement shall required to inject fresh capital to regularise their position.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS FOR PROPOSED BANKS

The minimum capital requirement shall be paid-up capital.

The new minimum capital requirement shall be applicable to all new applications for banking licences submitted after April 1, 2024.

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The CBN shall continue to process all pending applications for banking licences for which capital deposit had been made and/or approval-in-principle (AIP) had been granted. However, the promoters of such proposed banks shall make up the difference between the capital deposited with the CBN and the new capital requirement not later than March 31

.
CBN said all banks are required to submit an implementation plan, clearly indicating the chosen option{s) for meeting the new capital requirement and various activities involved with their timelines.

 

“The plan shall be submitted to the Director, Banking Supervision Department, Central Bank of Nigeria, not later than April 30, 2024,” the apex bank said.

 

CBN said it will monitor and ensure compliance with the new requirements within the specified timeline above.

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Fuel price: NNPC denies adjusting pump prices of petrol, diesel

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The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited says it has not adjusted the pump price of premium motor spirit (PMS), known as petrol, across its retail outlets.

There have been speculations that NNPC had reduced the price of petrol to N560 per litre — from N568.

 

The national oil company was also quoted as increasing the price of diesel to N920 per litre.

In a statement on Wednesday, signed by Femi Soneye, NNPC’s spokesperson, the firm denied the claims.

 

“NNPC Limited wishes to clarify rumours suggesting a price adjustment for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (Diesel) at its retail stations nationwide,” the statement reads.

 

“The company asserts that these reports are false and urges Nigerians to disregard them entirely.

 

“NNPC Ltd reaffirms its commitment to sustaining the current sufficiency in petroleum products supply across all its retail stations in the country.

On February 9, the NNPC had said there would not be any increase in the cost of petrol.

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Law enforcement agencies investigating $2.4bn unverified FX claims – Cardoso

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The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, says law enforcement agencies are investigating $2.4 billion unverified foreign exchange (FX) claims.

 

Cardoso spoke during a press conference on Tuesday after the 294th meeting of the monetary policy committee (MPC) in Abuja.

 

On February 5, Olayemi Cardoso, CBN governor, said he inherited a $7 billion FX backlog when he became the head of the apex bank in September 2023, however, it was discovered that $2.4 billion of the sum was invalid following an inquiry into the transactions.

 

Subsequently, the apex bank said all outstanding FX obligations had successfully been settled.

 

While providing clarification on the unverified claims, the CBN governor highlighted various irregularities, such as the disbursement of large sums of FX for requests that were never submitted and allocations made without the necessary naira backing. 

 

He said there was an absence of legal validity and adequate documentation in these transactions.

 

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Cardoso also stressed the gravity of these irregularities, labelling numerous transactions under investigation as “clearly unlawful”.

 

“We brought in Deloitte management consultants who took time and this really did take months. This is not something that happened overnight and a lot of this work was going on and people didn’t know but they took months painstakingly to go through all the documents, all the documents and to ensure that you know, they would have a report, which we could rely on,” he said.

 

“In the course of that, of course, we determined that a number of these transactions did not qualify. In some cases, you had some allocations that were made in millions of dollars, which were never requested for.

 

“We also had somewhere they had no naira and they were also allocated, you know, huge sums of foreign exchange and the list goes on. It was for that reason that we refused to validate those particular transactions.

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“We refused to validate them because apart from the fact that documentation was not satisfactory, in many cases, they were outright illegal. And the law enforcement agencies, of course, are now looking into those transactions that are, as far as we’re concerned, not valid to be paid. 

 

“I would emphasise that if there’s any information to the contrary, we would in due course consider that but as of today, that is exactly where it stands and the law enforcement agencies are taking a very, very hard look at those transactions.

 

“Other transactions, we have settled and as of today, as I have said before, I will say it again, that the valid transactions as far as the Central Bank of Nigeria is concerned, have been taken care of.”

 

‘FX MARKET IS AS OPEN, TRANSPARENT AS POSSIBLE’

Speaking further, Cardoso addressed the issue of stakeholders who may not be satisfied with the FX official market.

 

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According to Cardoso, all verified claims have been settled, adding that anyone is free to access the market.

 

“We are also not mindful of the fact that there may be some stakeholders who over a period of time may have had backlogs in one form or the other,” he said.

 

“We are not unmindful that that could be the case. That some of those may go back, you know, years, a long period of time.

 

“We have done what we can to make the market as open and transparent and liquid as possible. So those particular stakeholders are free to access those markets and take care of the backlogs. We have met the verified backlogs of contractual obligations as we deem them forward transactions.”

 

Meanwhile, on March 21, foreign airlines in Nigeria said they do not support patronising the investors and exporters (I&E) window  for foreign exchange (FX) transactions.

 

 

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