₦airaland Forum

"They Told Us Subsidy Was Gone, But Quietly Spent ₦7.1tn" - Rufai Oseni

They told us subsidy was dead and buried, but NNPCL’s latest financial statements revealed ₦7.1 trillion was quietly spent as an "energy security expense". Meanwhile, citizens are paying over ₦1,200 at the pump. The opacity in our public finance architecture is exactly why public trust has completely evaporated

Can u see they changed the name to energy security expense Hahahaha

It is subsidy ooo

Source

Nigerians must fight for their democracy else they will lose it forever.

It will get worse if these people ever get re-elected.

givedemwotowoto:
Nigerians must fight for their democracy else they will lose it forever.

It will get worse if these people ever get re-elected.

You just overstated the obvious.
This scam needs to end.
APC needs to end..

Haha ...everyday a new scam.

The most dubious government of hardened criminals even seen in the annals of this nation. That no one have been held accountable despite the monumental corruption of the PH and Kaduna refinery TAM tells a lot about this govt. Mela Kyari is still roaming free. Corruption fight by another gang of superlooting criminals.

givedemwotowoto:
Nigerians must fight for their democracy else they will lose it forever.

It will get worse if these people ever get re-elected.

The worst part is most of them don't even want to be rescued.

They're still blinded by tribalism and religion.

I'm even tired of telling them to vote out APC.

They can vote for anybody they like for all I care. Nobody is doing anybody a favour by voting for the right person.

Bringing back subsidy from January 1 2026 would have cost the government ₦38 trillion to ₦52 trillion this year.

7.1 trillion is too small for subsidy costs if there was a subsidy being paid

Modified

Basically, Oseni was referring to the partial subsidy (which government lied about) that was paid between October 2023 and april 2024. (I of course saw what was happening and was amused by the lies. The figures were even public knowledge back then).

What pisses people off is that the subsides did nothing to reduce oil prices . Of course it won't To really reduce oil prices, government would have had to pay far more than that and over a longer period of time.

As far as we know, no subsidy has been paid since may 2024, and if government has been doing it since then, may the gods have mercy on us, because our debt would eventually rise to levels not seen in anyone's lifetimes.



Modifed 2

People think that a subsidy coming back at that time would have reduced prices to N200 or less. That;s not how it works.

Also the 7.1 trillion naira figure date back from 2024, when government was paying a subsidy (reinstated in October 2023 to April 2024 or thereabouts)

Modified...and it was a wrong decision and it probably worsened our already bad debt.

nairalanda1:
Bringing back subsidy from January 1 2026 would have cost the government ₦38 trillion to ₦52 trillion this year.

7.1 trillion is too small for subsidy costs if there was a subsidy being paid

Why not explain what the 7.1 trillion is for then. You forgot that the ill-timed twin policies of subsidy removal and naira floatation imposed tremendous strain on the value of our naira. Buhari took a 20 trillion naira loan from the CBN during Covid-19 to stabilise the country and all hell broke lose when Tinubu came into power. Now, we are having multiples of that sum going unaccounted for while the loans keep piling up with nothing concrete to show. It was the coming on-stream of the Dangote refinery that rescued the country and help stabilise the naira. Buhari and Emefiele were hedging on to take advantage of that without any resultant pain only for the megalomaniac to come onboard and braggadociously remove the subsidy without a single plan.

AMINDA:
Why not explain what the 7.1 trillion is for then. You forgot that the twin ill-timed policy of subsidy removal and naira floatation imposed tremendous strain on the value of our naira. Buhari took a 20 trillion naira loan from the CBN during Covid-19 to stabilise the country and all hell broke lose when Tinubu came into power. Now, we are having multiples of that sum going unaccounted for while the loans keep piling up with nothing concrete to show.

Based in quick research on the Internet, the 7.1 trillion dates from 2024 .

In brief, Tinubu reinstated subsidy in October 2023 and kept it for seven months, before removing it completely

It's not a recent report. Infact it doesn't make sense because oil prices have been quite high for this year. Ain't no way 7.1 trillion would adequately cover subsidy costs for this year or the last.

I would be glad if there was proof that NNPC was secretly doing a subsidy as it would justify my loathing of the APC government even more, but with our fiscal situation as it is , it would be madness to bring back a subsidy of any kind.

molotov1:
You just overstated the obvious.
This scam needs to end.
APC needs to end..

Haha ...everyday a new scam.

Actually, what givedemwotowoto said was, we Nigerian have to end this scam, and not just be hoping it will miraculously end.

nairalanda1:
Based in quick research on the Internet, the 7.1 trillion dates from 2024 .

In brief, Tinubu reinstated subsidy in October 2023 and kept it for seven months, before removing it completely

It's not a recent report. Infact it doesn't make sense because oil prices have been quite high for this year. Ain't no way 7.1 trillion would adequately cover subsidy costs for this year or the last.

I would be glad if there was proof that NNPC was secretly doing a subsidy as it would justify my loathing of the APC government even more, but with our fiscal situation as it is , it would be madness to bring back a subsidy of any kind.

How could you say he kept the subsidy for 7 months after the announcement when the pump price of fuel skyrocketed immediately and never came down? Elrufai told us then that the government was paying even higher subsidy then after removal but they denied. Did Nigerians not deserve transparency? This is the 2024 report coming out in 2026. Wait for the 2025 report in 2028. That's if it ever makes it out to the public.

Borrow2222:
The worst part is most of them don't even want to be rescued.

They're still blinded by tribalism and religion.

I'm even tired of telling them to vote out APC.

They can vote for anybody they like for all I care. Nobody is doing anybody a favour by voting for the right person.

u will see people suffering but will always put tribe and religion above their conscience and welfare..countries abroad are thriving on technology and education but ours in this 2026 na tribalism and religion..a country with this kind of mindset can never get better..
We just deceive ourselves for this country

tinibu is d worst form of ruler ever.. history will never forget his atrocities

AMINDA:
How could you say he kept the subsidy for 7 months after the announcement when the pump price of fuel skyrocketed immediately and never came down? Elrufai told us then that the government was paying even higher subsidy then after removal but they denied. Did Nigerians not deserve transparency? This is the 2024 report coming out in 2026. Wait for the 2025 report in 2028. That's if it ever makes it out to the public.

Because if there was a subsidy, there would have been difficulties in paying it, leading to scarcity and even more problems

Plus an actual subsidy would cost anywhere between half our budget and 54 trillion naira.

Like I said, I am ready to have any proof government is paying subsidy, as it would even confirm my already bad opinion about this government, but right now, there is no proof, and the 7.1 trillion figure is from 2024, and a lot of noise was made about it over a year ago.

There are a lot of good reasons to camapaign against this government, but not by lying.

For the record, here is a report about when the money was paid.

Lagos — A SaharaReporters analysis of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) financial statement for the year ended December 2024 has uncovered that the company spent ₦7.1 trillion on what effectively amounts to fuel subsidy payments, despite official denials by the Federal Government.

The amount was categorized in the report under “Energy Security Expense.”

As explained in the statement, the energy security expense arises “when there is a differential between the exchange rate used to freeze the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) ex-coastal price and the prevailing exchange rate at the point of import settlement.”

“The amount is charged against what should have been paid to the federation accounts monthly.”

A sum of N4.8trillion was recorded to have been spent on the same item in 2023.

SAUCE : Sweet crude reports Nov 26 2025.

nairalanda1:
Because if there was a subsidy, there would have been difficulties in paying it, leading to scarcity and even more problems

Plus an actual subsidy would cost anywhere between half our budget and 54 trillion naira.

Like I said, I am ready to have any proof government is paying subsidy, as it would even confirm my already bad opinion about this government, but right now, there is no proof, and the 7.1 trillion figure is from 2024, and a lot of noise was made about it over a year ago.

There are a lot of good reasons to camapaign against this government, but not by lying.

Half our budget. Was that what the previous governments spent on subsidy? Who made it that expensive to subsidise? You ended up not explaining where the 7.1 trillion. 20 trillion was the ways and means for the entirety of Buhari’s government but 7.1 trillion is going missing in a single financial year and we are supposed to move on like it's nothing.

nairalanda1:
Based in quick research on the Internet, the 7.1 trillion dates from 2024 .

In brief, Tinubu reinstated subsidy in October 2023 and kept it for seven months, before removing it completely

It's not a recent report. Infact it doesn't make sense because oil prices have been quite high for this year. Ain't no way 7.1 trillion would adequately cover subsidy costs for this year or the last.

I would be glad if there was proof that NNPC was secretly doing a subsidy as it would justify my loathing of the APC government even more, but with our fiscal situation as it is , it would be madness to bring back a subsidy of any kind.

You have seen proof that NNPC was secretly paying subsidy in 2024, what other proof do you want?

They were lying to Nigerians the entire time while still paying subsidies.

The fact that 7 trillion subsidy was paid should warrant an investigation. Who exactly was paid? Why? Why did the lie to Nigerians while this was going on?

This is not N1,000.00 we're talking about, this is 7.1 trillion.

The coastal highway of fraud is costing about N15 trillion so everyone should be alarmed at 7.1 trillion worth of subsidies paid

AMINDA:
Half our budget. Was that what the previous governments paid on subsidy? He made it that expensive to subsidise? You ended up not explaining where the 7.1 trillion. 20 trillion was the ways and means for the entirety of Buhari’s government but 7.1 trillion is going missing in a single financial year and we are supposed to move on like it's nothing.

Hell, subsidy payments have been eating a lot of our budget for years.

2010: 667 billion naira out of a budget of 4 trillion naira.

2014: 1.2 trillion naira out of a budget of 4.7 trillion naira

2022: 4.39 trillion naira out of a budget of 17.12 trillion naira

2023: 6-7 trillion naira out of a budget of 21.3 trillion naira


If subsidy was present, our spending would have been between 38-52 trillion naira due to

1. RIsing oil prices

2. RIsing population.

And that's an estimate. Smuggling always ends up driving the cost higher. Infact, most of the figures above are probably estimates...

Also, keep in mind that half of our budget is borrowed money due to chronically low oil prices, especially since 2020-22, and debt servicing arising from previous debts especially when covid so lowered oil prices also makes the matter worse.


If the government wants a subsidy to come back it would have been madness.


Keep in mind I am not defending this useless APC government, I'm just explaining why it would be crazy for any government to bring back a subsidy after 2024.


Keep in mind that the 7.1 trillion naira spent was also a disaster for our economy as far as I am concerned and it worsened our debt even.

nairalanda1:
Bringing back subsidy from January 1 2026 would have cost the government ₦38 trillion to ₦52 trillion this year.

7.1 trillion is too small for subsidy costs if there was a subsidy being paid

Honestly you have time for Rufai.

THAT 7.1 TRILLION is the "cushioning effect" these same saboteurs said Tinubu must establish following subsidy removal.

They see it and then shout "Ah, I thought they said they ended subsidy! Liars! Thieves!".

Rufai is evil.

givedemwotowoto:
You have seen proof that NNPC was secretly paying subsidy in 2024, what other proof do you want?

They were lying to Nigerians the entire time while still paying subsidies.

Proof was present in the open. Prices stopped rising for seven months from october 2023. Having followed the subsidy thing closely since 2011, I knew what was up. It was so obvious.

The fact that 7 trillion subsidy was paid should warrant an investigation. Who exactly was paid? Why? Why did the lie to Nigerians while this was going on?

No argument from me there. But the thing was done in the open. People who didn;t want to see it refused to see it.

Also subsidy payments went to the marketers and to dangote possibly. If it was looted, there would have been massive scarcity and black market fuel would have been starting at N2000 and more.

Even then, no argument. Government has no business paying a subsidy, and it should have gone like centuries ago.

This is not N1,000.00 we're talking about, this is 7.1 trillion.

The coastal highway of fraud is N15 trillion so everyone should be alarmed at this figure.

Worsened our debt even.

nairalanda1:
Hell, subsidy payments have been eating a lot of our budget for years.

2010: 667 billion naira out of a budget of 4 trillion naira.

2014: 1.2 trillion naira out of a budget of 4.7 trillion naira

2022: 4.39 trillion naira out of a budget of 17.12 trillion naira

2023: 6-7 trillion naira out of a budget of 21.3 trillion naira


If subsidy was present, our spending would have been between 38-52 trillion naira due to

1. RIsing oil prices

2. RIsing population.

And that's an estimate. Smuggling always ends up driving the cost higher. Infact, most of the figures above are probably estimates...

Also, keep in mind that half of our budget is borrowed money due to chronically low oil prices, especially since 2020-22, and debt servicing arising from previous debts especially when covid so lowered oil prices also makes the matter worse.


If the government wants a subsidy to come back it would have been madness.


Keep in mind I am not defending this useless APC government, I'm just explaining why it would be crazy for any government to bring back a subsidy after 2024.


Keep in mind that the 7.1 trillion naira spent was also a disaster for our economy as far as I am concerned and it worsened our debt even.

I hope you know that subsidy doesn't have to be 100%. Isn't it possible that Nigerians are bearing a huge chunk of the true cost while the government covers the remaining shortfall, albeit, without the transparency required due to political ramifications?

Kemetian:
Honestly you have time for Rufai.

THAT 7.1 TRILLION is the "cushioning effect" these same saboteurs said Tinubu must establish following subsidy removal.

They see it and then shout "Ah, I thought they said they ended subsidy! Liars! Thieves!".

Rufai is evil.

It WAS but even then, it was not something I liked when it was being implemented. We wasted 1 trillion naira monthly on top of a budget deficit and low oil prices for seven months.


The problem is, to pay for that subsidy, money was taken from other parts of the budget and used to pay for it since it was not originally provided for in the budget. That means at the end of the day, more debt, because borrowing happens to fill in the resultant hole.

And oil prices have been too low for us since 2015 even. And we have been on deficit budgets for decades even, with borrowing filling up the deficit. Worsening the debt. If not for the debt forgiveness in 2006, we would have been nearly 800 trn naira in debt by now.

AMINDA:
I hope you know that subsidy doesn't have to be 100%. Isn't it possible that Nigerians are bearing a huge chunk of the true cost while the government covers the remaining shortfall, albeit, without the transparency required due to political ramifications?

Yes, and that subsidy was not 100% even

But, the problem is, and the problem with that 7.1 trillion naira was that it was not budgeted for, and that led to more loans being taken.


Yes, we are bearing the burden, but the problem with putting a subsidy this year was that

1. Oil prices were sky high this year. That raises subsidy costs.

2. This year's budget was horriflying. Same as last year' s and the year before. A large deficit that had to be paid for by borrowing (that's why government is suddenly a fan of taxes.)....and most of the debt was brought in by chronically low oil prices since August 2014, and especially since the covid oil price crash. All the borrowing added up. And we was paying subsidy till 2024 which worsened the whole thing.

Thus, any attempt to bring back subsidy amounts essentially to worsening the debt. Not only would subsidy costs have been high even at 50%, but the massive smugggling would have raised them even more. Result..fiscal disaster eventually. If you think times are bad now, it would be feaking ass worse.

AMINDA:
Why not explain what the 7.1 trillion is for then. You forgot that the ill-timed twin policies of subsidy removal and naira floatation imposed tremendous strain on the value of our naira. Buhari took a 20 trillion naira loan from the CBN during Covid-19 to stabilise the country and all hell broke lose when Tinubu came into power. Now, we are having multiples of that sum going unaccounted for while the loans keep piling up with nothing concrete to show. It was the coming on-stream of the Dangote refinery that rescued the country and help stabilise the naira. Buhari and Emefiele were hedging on to take advantage of that without any resultant pain only for the megalomaniac to come onboard and braggadociously remove the subsidy without a single plan.

Our presidentila candidates all listened to Obi. Obi came up with idea of removing subsidy. Obidients clapped and applauded him. Atiku saw the applause and keyed in. Tinubu followed. Unfortunately in Tinubu copying he did foolery of himself by copying both the idea and the name of who propagated the idea.

nairalanda1:
Because if there was a subsidy, there would have been difficulties in paying it, leading to scarcity and even more problems

Plus an actual subsidy would cost anywhere between half our budget and 54 trillion naira.

Like I said, I am ready to have any proof government is paying subsidy, as it would even confirm my already bad opinion about this government, but right now, there is no proof, and the 7.1 trillion figure is from 2024, and a lot of noise was made about it over a year ago.

There are a lot of good reasons to camapaign against this government, but not by lying.

If Nigerians should follow your mouth there would be an eventual uprising according to you it will be called "holding our leaders to account" even if they kpai many of us in the protests that MUST surely follow 🙄

The kind of things you post here sometimes should make these useless people arrest you for treason

nairalanda1:
Proof was present in the open. Prices stopped rising for seven months from october 2023. Having followed the subsidy thing closely since 2011, I knew what was up. It was so obvious.

The government denied paying subsidies in 2023 and 2024 while apparently paying partial subsidies, they even renamed it, but people sniffed it out from the reports. This is a serious case of deception and erosion of public trust. It wasn't in the open as you say.

No argument from me there. But the thing was done in the open. People who didn;t want to see it refused to see it.

Also subsidy payments went to the marketers and to dangote possibly. If it was looted, there would have been massive scarcity and black market fuel would have been starting at N2000 and more.

Even then, no argument. Government has no business paying a subsidy, and it should have gone like centuries ago.

For something you say was in the open, you're not sure, which is why this is more concerning. Those defending them don't even know how a whooping 7.1 trillion disappeared from Nigeria's revenue.

givedemwotowoto:
The government denied paying subsidies in 2023 and 2024 while apparently paying partial subsidies, they even renamed it, but people sniffed it out from the reports. This is a serious case of deception and erosion of public trust. It wasn't in the open as you say.




@the bolded word possibly. For something you say was in the open, you're not sure, which is why this is more concerning. Those defending them don't even know how a whooping 7.1 trillion disappeared from Nigeria's revenue.

They did, and I was having a good laugh back then because it was so obvious they paid.. Press also reported on the payments, though they used the offical euphemisim of 'under recovery'.

I guess there was the usual stealing, but I think most of the money went to the right place, otherwise scarcity would have been massive back then.

But at the end, it worsened our debt and deficit. That's good enough reason to believe the decision was a bad one.

givedemwotowoto:
"They Told Us Subsidy Was Gone, But Quietly Spent ₦7.1tn" - Rufai Oseni



Source

These guys in power today are conscience dead.
They steal with no conscience.

nairalanda1:
Bringing back subsidy from January 1 2026 would have cost the government ₦38 trillion to ₦52 trillion this year.

7.1 trillion is too small for subsidy costs if there was a subsidy being paid

Partial subsidies could cost 7.1 trillion. It's not the same as "Subsidy is gone, we're not paying any subsidy".

SeeWahala:
If Nigerians should follow your mouth there would be an eventual uprising according to you it will be called "holding our leaders to account" even if they kpai many of us in the protests that MUST surely follow 🙄

The kind of things you post here sometimes should make these useless people arrest you for treason

Well, there should be questions asked as to why they were paying a subsidy and then denying it when it was so obvious they were (prices stayed at the same point for seven months nationwide, which kind of tells you what was up).

The problem is, Oseni is acting like it happened just now.

Finally, the government is useless enough, and should go in an election next year, but then the problem is, most of you Nigerians do not believe in an economy that should be productive, and like people, like govenrment.

P.S And if more figures come out and govenrment is paying subsides, for 2025 and this year, it would just show them as bad economists first and foremost. We got a large deficit in all our budgets since 2023, and you are making things worse by paying a subsidy, even if it is tiny. No effing way.

budaatum:
Actually, what givedemwotowoto said was, we Nigerian have to end this scam, and not just be hoping it will miraculously end.

Sure, we can't just wish these crooks away.
It might may take extraordinary actions to dislodge this anathema calling themselves leaders.

givedemwotowoto:
Partial subsidies could cost 7.1 trillion. It's not the same as "Subsidy is gone, we're not paying any subsidy".

Yeah, and it is still garbage economics. We can't affoord it, not on a budget deficit, and chronically low oil prices, and massive borrowing.

Plus, for partial subsidy it isn't enough. This was in 2024 when oil prices were not as high as they were this year.underrecovery

I repeat, any subsidy paid since 2022 , even since 1993 is garbage economics. Not on a huge deficit year in year out that has to be financed by borrowing.