Following the decision to extend the payment of petroleum subsidy, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has presented a bill of N3 trillion to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) as what is required for 2022.

Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, disclosed this to State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council meeting which was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday.

She recalled that only N443 billion is presently available in the 2020 budget meant to accommodate subsidy from January to June.

She added that with the realities on ground, including the present hardship faced by Nigerians and the lack of structures to support subsidy removal, the NNPC made a request for N3 trillion from the Ministry of Finance for 2022.

“What this means is that, we have to make an incremental provision of N2.557 trillion to be able to meet the subsidy requirement which is averaging about N270 billion per month”, she said.

Zainab said the request was considered by the Council which directed the ministry to approach the National Assembly for an amendment to the fiscal framework as well as the budget.

She also revealed that council had approved an amendment to be transmitted to the National Assembly to repeal clauses 10 and 11 concerning the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) operations in the 2022 budget and as well restore what the lawmakers had deleted amounting to N103 billion.

According to her, the amendment stemmed from President Buhari’s complaint about the tinkering done to the budget by the legislature, which may hamper the original plans of the Executive.