Mohammed Shehu, the chairman of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), says Nigeria spent N1.16 trillion on fuel subsidy in 2021.
Mr Shehu stated this on Thursday in Abuja during his presentation to the Senate’s Public Accounts Committee (SPAC), which is probing the 2021-2023 Audit reports on the oil and gas industry conducted by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).
Mr Shehu mentioned that N1.20 trillion was deducted from the federation’s crude sales proceeds. He added that aside from the fuel subsidy, crude and product losses accounted for N16.20 billion, pipeline repairs for N22.05 billion and strategic stock holding for N6.75 billion.
Mr Shehu also informed the committee that during the period, the intention of the derivation objective was undermined by the computation method.
He noted that “the practice of computing 13 per cent derivation on the balance of revenue after deductions from the total collections is contrary to the intention of the derivation objective”.
The Niger Delta Development Commission’s submission was stood down by the committee chaired by Ibrahim Dankwambo (Gombe North), to allow members to study the report before reappearing on Wednesday.
Mr Dankwambo frowned upon the failure of the auditor-general of the federation to appear before the investigative session without a valid reason or representative.
“The auditor-general must unfailingly appear before this committee on Tuesday next week or risk the invocation of the National Assembly’s powers against him, which will lead to forced appearance,” the senator threatened.