Report by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has revealed that Nigeria’s oil revenue dipped to N945 billion in January this year despite steady rise in crude oil price in the international market.
The report showed that while Nigeria expected to earn N1.024 trillion in the period under review, it rather earned N945 billion.
Analysis of the report for the country’s oil revenue indicated that Nigeria did not earn any revenue from crude oil and gas exports in January, as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited is yet to remit funds to the joint pool of the federation account in recent months because of the increasing fuel subsidy claims.
The CBN report further indicated that earnings from the major oil revenue, the petroleum profit tax and royalties, dropped below the monthly projection of N277 billion from N360 billion recorded in the previous month to N247 billion.
Stakeholders are also unsettled with the fact that Nigeria has not benefited much in terms of revenue even though Bonny Light which is the highest selling Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), under which Nigeria sells has been steady in oil price rice, including selling $124.18 per barrel on Monday.
Meanwhile, the National Operations Controller of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mike Osatuyi, said that the country’s oil revenue drop was not a surprise to him.
According to Osatuyi, any country spending too much for subsidy should not expect to take full advantage of the international market crude oil price rise.
Osatuyi projected that by the end of this year, if naira continues to depreciate against dollar, Nigeria might accumulate over N5 trillion in subsidy payment.
“Incurring such cost is not in the best interest of the country. The best solution to curbing this revenue dip in oil is to remove subsidy, but subsidy cannot be removed now when the country is hot. There is inflation, life is difficult for the citizens, so it is very much impossible to remove subsidy. Who, in Nigeria of today, can afford to buy petrol for about N600/litre if subsidy is removed,” the IPMAN National Operations Controller said.
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