Industry sources told Reuters on Thursday that amid criticism that wasteful and corrupt subsidies could cause a repeat here of the riots that have consumed Kenya over tax and fuel hikes. Since the beginning of April, Nigeria’s state-run NNPC oil firm has doubled its debt to gasoline suppliers as a result of the widening gap between subsidized prices at the pump and international market prices, Reuters reported, citing six unnamed industry sources.
We shall instead rechannel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.” Since then, starting with the NNPC cap on prices, subsidies have gradually returned against the backdrop of soaring inflation. In May this year, the International Monetary Fund IMF warned that Nigeria’s return to gasoline subsidies would erase nearly half of its expected annual oil revenues.