President Bola Tinubu has authorized the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited to utilize the 2023 final dividends owed to the federation to offset the cost of petrol subsidies.
Additionally, the president has approved a suspension of the payment of 2024 interim dividends to the federation to enhance NNPC’s cash flow.
NNPC also informed the president that, due to the subsidy payments, it is currently unable to pay taxes and royalties into the federation account, describing the situation as a “subsidy shortfall/FX differential.”
A forecast from NNPC, obtained by the newspaper, projects that total petrol subsidy expenses from August 2023 to December 2024 will reach N6.884 trillion, resulting in the company being unable to remit N3.987 trillion in taxes and royalties to the federation account.
The precise amount of dividends that will be withheld or suspended was not confirmed at the time of this report.