PORT HARCOURT—NIGERIAN Navy has impounded two boats carrying about 100, 000 litres of illegal diesel worth N20.4 million on the waterways in Akuku Toru local government area of Rivers state.
Base Operations Officer, Nigerian Navy Ship, NNS Pathfinder , Commander Ugochukwu Ajulu, disclosed this to newsmen yesterday, saying those arrested will be handed over to the appropriate security agency for prosecution. “In-line with strategic directives from naval authorities, on March 31, our troops on routine patrol impounded two wooden boats carrying suspected illegally refined diesel in
“In-line with strategic directives from naval authorities, on March 31, our troops on routine patrol impounded two wooden boats carrying suspected illegally refined diesel in quantity of about 100,000 litres. The first wooden boat transporting about 60 drums fully loaded with suspected stolen diesel was impounded along
The first wooden boat transporting about 60 drums fully loaded with suspected stolen diesel was impounded along Bakana waterways with three suspects on-board. The second boat which had over 100 drums laden with illegally refined diesel was seized while it anchored at
The second boat which had over 100 drums laden with illegally refined diesel was seized while it anchored at Aiteo jetty near Abonema.”, he said. While adding that about 5,000 litres of diesel
While adding that about 5,000 litres of diesel was also stored in a compartment on the boat, Ajulu said that naval operatives were unable to make any arrest from the second boat as its crew members had fled the scene on sighting advancing naval patrol gunboats.
World oil prices rose for a third straight day today with traders brushing aside news of a rocket attack by jihadists on a gas plant in OPEC energy producer Algeria, the AFP reported.
The development sees the price of Brent crude, against which Nigeria’s oil is priced, rise to $42.29 dollars, $4.29 higher than the country’s proposed benchmark of $38 for the 2016 budget.
According to the AFP, with confidence growing that the world’s biggest crude producers will hammer out a deal to curb output, investors piled back into the commodity after they toyed with 13-year lows last month.
Qatar’s energy minister, Mohammed al-Sada, confirmed this week that exporters from within and outside the OPEC cartel will meet April 17 in Doha, stoking hopes of an agreement to ease a global supply glut.
Around 1215 GMT on Friday, United States benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in April was up 72 cents at $40.92 a barrel.
Brent North Sea crude for May delivery won 75 cents to $42.29 a barrel compared with Thursday’s close.
WTI had advanced 4.5 per cent Thursday, closing above $40 for the first time since the start of December.
Buying in recent days has been fuelled also by the Federal Reserve, which on Wednesday halved its forecast for US interest rate hikes this year.
The outlook, citing a global slowdown and market turmoil, sent the dollar plunging, which in turn makes oil cheaper for holders of rival currencies.
“The expectation that the leading OPEC oil producing countries and Russia will agree on binding production caps on 17 April is lending prices additional buoyancy,” said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.
Elsewhere Friday, jihadists launched a rocket attack on an Algerian gas plant jointly operated by foreign companies, three years after a deadly hostage crisis at another facility in the Sahara desert.
There were no reports of casualties in Friday’s attack, companies and workers at the site said.
Algeria is one of the world’s largest exporters of natural gas, with revenue from fossil fuels accounting for 95 per cent of its exports.
Price of Premium Motor Spirit also known as fuel has risen to N180 per litre at some filling stations owned by Independent Marketers in Benin City
At the black market, fuel sold for N200 per litre and above.
Fuel was sold at some NNPC mega filling station and some major marketers that were supplied fuel from Benin Depot of the NNPC sold fuel at the approved pump price.
Fuel chart released at the Benin depot showed that about 800,000 liters of fuel were supplied to filling stations across the state.
A manager at one of the fuel station where fuel was sold for N160 said they got the product at a price of N120 per litre.
Prices of transport fares have however soared within Benin City and environs.Ring Road to Oluku that used to cost N70 now cost N100.
Motorists are groaning as queues reappeared in fueling stations across Ibadan the Oyo State capital.
The situation has started creating panic among residents.
Fuel Scarcity
Going round some major roads within Ibadan, Channels TV discovered that only a handful of petrol stations were selling petrol while majority were not selling.
Both the independent and major marketers appeared to be affected as most were not selling.
Some motorists are suspecting that some filling stations are possibly hoarding the products as no explanation has been given for the non-availability of the product.
Some of the station managers who spoke to Channels TV denied this allegation and told our correspondent that they were not dispensing fuel because they did not have product to sell.
However, managers of some of the few stations selling claimed that they had no idea why there should be any form of fuel scarcity.
These few stations sold at the official pump price but there were fears that they might not be doing so for long if the fuel scarcity continues.
Efforts to get the NNPC or the leadership of IPMAN for comments were unsuccessful.
Many filling stations across the country on Friday shunned the Federal Government’s directive on the new pump price for petrol as they continued to sell the product at either the old regulated price of N87 per litre or above it.
The Petroleum Product Pricing Regulatory Agency on Tuesday announced that retail filling stations belonging to the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation would from Friday, January 1, 2016, sell petrol at N86 per litre, while other oil marketers would sell the product at N86.5 per litre.
Fuel Subsidy
The PPPRA Executive Secretary, Mr. Farouk Ahmed, had stated that the reduction in the price of the commodity was due to an implementation of the revised components of the petroleum products pricing template for PMS and House Hold Kerosene.
But findings by our correspondents on Friday revealed that many petrol stations in Abuja and neighbouring Kaduna and Nasarawa states as well as others in the South West, South South, North West, North Central and South East had yet to comply with the directive.
Investigations also revealed that even NNPC stations were still selling the product at the old price. For instance, an NNPC mega station located in Kubwa, a popular satellite town in Abuja, displayed N87 as the selling price as against the stipulated N86 price when one of our correspondents visited the outlet on Friday afternoon.
Although this particular station was not dispensing at the time of the visit, one of its workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the decision to sell the product for N87 per litre was because other outlets in the area were still selling petrol at the old price.
The worker was not far from the truth as all the petrol stations in Kubwa were selling the product at N87.
The Oando filling station opposite the NNPC in Kubwa was also selling for N87 per litre. Similarly, Total filling station on Arab Road and another popular outlet close to the Kubwa market sold petrol at the old N87 per litre price.
In Zuba and Suleja, satellite towns on the outskirts of Abuja while heading to Kaduna, our correspondent observed that virtually all the stations in the area dispensed the product at N87.
In Nyanya, Mararaba and Keffi, all in Nasarawa State, the price of petrol was still N87 per litre on Friday in most petrol stations visited.
However, the NNPC mega station and NIPCO on the Abuja/Zuba Expressway complied with the new pricing regime, as both stations sold the product at N86 and N86.5 per litre respectively.
An official of the Department of Petroleum Resources stated that the petrol stations had no choice but to comply with the directive.
“Some of them may get away with it today, but it will surely be short-lived as monitoring by the DPR will kick off anytime from now, because it is a Federal Government directive and it must be upheld,” the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity noted.
In Lagos State, the situation was not different as a popular filling station in Abule Egba area of Lagos sold petrol for N87 per litre.
An attendant at the filling station, who declined to give her name, told one of our correspondents that she was directed by her boss to sell the product at N87 per litre. But about three filling stations located not too far away from there were not open for business.
While majority of the filling stations around Ojodu in Lagos State were not selling fuel, the Conoil located around Toll Gate on the Lagos – Ibadan Expressway was selling petrol for N87 per litre, with a relatively long queue.
Also, at an NNPC mega station in Ikeja, Lagos State, petrol was sold for N87 despite the Federal Government’s directive.
An official of the station, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was awaiting a new directive from the President in 2016 before selling at the stipulated N86 per litre.
He said, “We are still selling at N87 here. I have not heard anything from the President this year, asking, “Have you heard from him?”
In major cities in Ogun State, one of our correspondents observed that many filling stations were selling a litre of petrol for between N100 and N130.
In Abeokuta, the state capital, major marketers like Conoil, Total and Forte were not opened to customers because they claimed that they did not have stock. But an NNPC mega station on Abiola Way in the state capital sold petrol for N86 per litre.
But other independent marketers who were dispensing the product sold to motorists and other buyers at between N100 and N130 per litre.
At Ebenfem filling station at Ita Eko, Abeokuta, motorists bought petrol for N120 per litre.
The same scenario obtained at Supreme Petrol Station just after the Mechanic Village along Abeokuta-Lagos Expressway as a litre of petrol was sold at N110.
In Sango-Ota axis, independent marketers dispensed a litre of petrol for between N100 and N130. At NNPC franchise filling stations at Oju Ore and Koro Otun respectively, they dispensed a litre of petrol for N100 and N120 respectively.
At EMIMP filling station and Oando filling station along Sango-Idiroko Road, they sold a litre for N100 and N130 respectively.
However, MRS filling stations in Abeokuta and Sagamu still sold the product for N87 per litre.
In Osun State, marketers have yet to comply with the directive. In Osogbo, the state capital, one of our correspondents observed that petrol was not available for sale in most filling stations in the city as some fuel attendants said they could not adjust to the new price because they bought at higher price from the private depots.
A former Treasurer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Western Zone, Mr. Shina Amoo, when contacted by one of our correspondents, said independent marketers could not comply with the directive on petrol price because they bought far higher than the approved price.
He said, “I bought at N102 per litre yesterday (Thursday) and later I bought at N94.5 per litre. So you don’t expect anybody who bought at those prices to sell a litre for N86, it is not possible.
“The price will continue to come down as the supply increases. The government will not need to force anybody to reduce the price; the forces of demand and supply will determine the price.”
In Ondo State, only the NNPC mega stations and a few major marketers complied with the directive, while many independent marketers were still selling the product for N120 per litre. The situation was the same in Bayelsa State where attendants at filling stations on the popular Swali Road in Yenagoa displayed N87 per litre for the price of petrol on their pumps, but actually sold the product at N140 per litre. But NNPC mega stations in the state capital complied with the Federal Government’s directive.
Independent marketers in Niger, Kwara and Kogi states have yet to adjust the pump price to the new approved rate as they were still dispensing at the old price. The Niger State Coordinator, DPR, Mr. Abdullahi Jankara, told one of our correspondents that he had not received any letter from the Federal Government on the new pump price of petrol.
Asked why its members have yet to comply with the new directive, the Kwara State Chairman, IPMAN, Mr. Olanrewaju Okanlawon, said they were still buying petrol at the old rate of N66.70 plus other associated costs.
The few filling stations which opened for business in Akwa Ibom and Cross River states sold petrol for N130 per litre.
The situation was worse in Enugu State as independent marketers sold the product for between N150 and N160 per litre in most filling stations in the state. But a long queue was noticed at an NNPC mega station which sold it for N87.
In Plateau State, most marketers claimed that they were not aware of the new pump price. The marketers, who declined to mention their names, said they had not received any clear directive on the new pricing system. In major cities such as Gboko, Kastina-Ala, Oturpko and Ukum in Benue State, the product was sold for N125, N150 and N165 respectively.
In Oyo State, the situation remained the same as it was before January 1. The price of a litre of petrol varied from one filling station to the other but none of them sold at the government regulated price.
Before the New Year Day, few filling stations had the product to sell. Majority of those who had the product were the independent marketers, who were selling a litre for prices ranging from between N125 and N140.
On Friday, from Mokola area of Ibadan to Owode, along Ibadan/Abeokuta Expressway, a few stations had the product and they were adamant to sell above the new government pump price, hinging the decision on the inflated rate at which they bought the product in Lagos.
The situation was the same in Bere, Oje, Oritamerin, Oke-Ado and Ring Road areas of the city.
In Edo State, apart from the NNPC mega filling station on Sapele Road, which sold petrol at N86 per litre, many of the major and independent marketers sold above the official pump price of N86.50. For instance, at Asolyn filling station opposite the state civil service secretariat on Sapele Road and Total filling station on Airport Road, Benin, a litre of petrol was sold for N130.
Petrol was sold at the rate of N130 per litre at the Total filling station in the same area.
Also on Airport Road, independent marketers like Otopec, VOE and Jeroviedd fixed their pump prices at N135, N130 and N120 per litre, respectively.
One of our correspondents noted in Asaba, Warri, Ogwashi-Uku, Ughelli and Ibusa – all in Delta State that the product was sold for between N130 and N150 per litre despite the Federal Government’s directive.
In some filling stations where the product was sold for N130 per litre in the state, attendants collected minimum of N50 bribe from motorists before selling to them.
Meanwhile, the PPPRA has vowed to sanction any filling station found flouting government’s directive.
The Assistant General Manager/Head of Operations, PPPRA, Mr. Victor Shidok, threatened that the agency would withdraw licences of defaulters.
Shidok, who led a team from the PPPRA to monitor the level of compliance with the directive in Abuja, warned that the government would not tolerate any deviation from the new directive.
He said the monitoring, which was simultaneously going on across the country, was done in conjunction with the DPR to ensure that Nigerians were not shortchanged.
Shidok stated that there was 100 per cent compliance as at press time in the city centre, but noted the team had yet to reach the outskirts where he feared that there might be challenges with regard to total compliance.
He said, “The challenge may likely be in the outskirts. All those we have visited say they have received directive from their head offices. We are in touch with the leadership of oil marketers in the country. This is a nationwide exercise.”
As fuel scarcity bites harder in Hadejia, Jigawa, the price of a litre of petrol has risen to N300. Many petrol stations in Hadejia had no product to sell at the time of this report. Petro is only available at black markets where it sold at N300 per litre, well above the N87 approved pump price.
Fuel Subsidy
The situation has led to drastic drop in the number of commercial buses on roads in the area. Malam Ibrahim Hassan, a commercial bus driver, said that he was experiencing difficulties getting petrol to buy. Hassan said that the situation was affecting his daily revenue as “I am spending much on fuel due to the lingering scarcity. “
The driver said that he had resorted to carrying more passengers to make up for the expenses on fuel. “I am overloading passengers to avoid incurring losses. “ Malam Baballe Haruna, the Treasurer, National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in the area, condemned the non-availability of petrol in the area.
Haruna said that the trend had exposed members of the union to hardships, adding that most of them had parked their vehicles. He appealed to the Federal Government to adopt practical measures to end scarcity of petroleum products in the country.
PAYMENT of subsidy on fuel importation and Foreign Exchange (FOREX) differentials on bank loans granted to marketers by the Federal Government are to end soon.
CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the government was doing everything to ensure that the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) become sole importer of petroleum products.
Members of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) have been on a running battle with the Federal Government over subsidy claims running into several millions of dollars.
But Emefiele said President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the NNPC to cut down on importation by reactivating the four refineries and ensuring they function at installed capacities.
Speaking in an interview with Financial Times of London, the CBN chief said: “The President came on board and said that we will work very hard to reduce importation of petroleum products by ensuring that our refineries work. Our refineries are working now.
“The Warri and Port Harcourt refineries have started producing. They have not obtained the optimal capacity but they will. The Kaduna refinery will start working this month.
“Now, there are other actions that the Presidency is putting in place to ensure that we reduce importation of petroleum products where the NNPC will solely, almost solely be responsible for procuring refined petroleum.
”Those who are importing petroleum products will only just need to go to the NNPC and pick up petroleum products.
“So, in that area, I would say that we are already moving in the direction of reducing the import of petroleum products. And we will achieve it.”
On the efforts being made by the President to recoup stolen oil revenues believed to have been deposited in foreign banks, Emefiele said the issue was still being looked at, assuring that “as the Central Bank, we will also assist in drilling them once we get to that stage, and we will be happy to have that money back because it will improve our reserves”.
An oil and gas firm, Ontario Oil & Gas Limited has provided clarification on its involvement in the crude for petroleum products exchange agreement, better known as crude oil swaps, with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), stating that it has not been indicted for fraud in the ongoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and/or the Department of State Security (DSS) over its crude swap contract.
Reacting to THISDAY’s report on Sunday on the probe being undertaken by the DSS into the swaps and offshore processing agreements (OPAs) entered into between NNPC and Nigerian oil traders, the company, in a statement, added that it was never invited by DSS, nor had it made a confessional statement to the security agency committing to refund between $800 million and $1.2 billion to NNPC or the federal government.
“While we cannot verify if such an investigation is indeed underway or whether or not security agencies have been able to secure confessions of illegal activity by some marketers, we wish to state, with all sense of responsibility, that our company was never indicted by the EFCC or the DSS in connection with this matter.
“We were therefore shocked and embarrassed to read that the DSS may have also secured confessions from Ontario for between $800 million and $1.2 billion which it hopes to recover in the next few weeks,” it said.
Ontario noted that for sometime, its management has been aware of surreptitious efforts by some persons who, “out of envy for the progress made by our company”, are eager to spread malicious and concocted rumours of our alleged non-delivery of cargo and outstanding payments to the government (NNPC/PPMC).
“It is unfortunate that these people will rather pull down other companies to satisfy their own selfish interests and pursuits.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Ontario Oil & Gas Limited. is one of the indigenous players in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry whose reputation for probity and accountability is unassailable.
“Indeed, it was owing to this impressive track record in service delivery that we came to sign a crude swap contract with NNPC in February 2011,” it stated.
It disclosed that Ontario lifted 47 crude cargoes and corresponding refined products have been supplied against every single crude cargo lifted.
“In other words, Ontario has supplied all refined products expected in performance of the said contract. In fact, every such transaction was fully backed by reputable financial instruments.
“Moreover, for all supplies of refined product met, PPMC had obliged Ontario with release letters discharging us from all obligations on crude lifted. We make bold to say that Ontario is the only fully owned Nigerian company which has fully performed its obligations under the crude swap contract without any outstanding cargo whatsoever.
“We therefore cannot overstate the fact that at no time whatsoever was Ontario or any of its officials, as at going to press, invited to the DSS for any enquiry, so a confessionary statement could not have been obtained from us.
“We have had no contact whatsoever with the DSS staff referred to in the story and no such figures are outstanding from Ontario,” it said.
It confirmed, however, that at some point the EFCC had invited Ontario amongst other contractees of the swap programme, “and we honoured the invitation and Ontario stated its position backed with cargo delivery documents/presentation spreadsheet of all cargoes delivered when we met with to the commission”.
“Besides, anybody familiar with the operations of the oil industry will understand that at the end of every quarter transaction, reconciliations are usually made by stakeholders to see where gaps/differences exist either in cargo discharge/out turn quantities, penalties for late deliveries/deeming costs, demurrage or NPA port charges, etc.
This has been the practice for so many years and there is nothing unusual about this. It is unfortunate that some people have now decided to capitalise their own ignorance of the technical/process dynamics of the swap contracts to misinform Nigerians regarding this practice and to spread vicious rumours against our company.
“The contract is governed by very strict checks and balances and every crude cargo lifted is secured by a standby Letter of Credit which guarantees the safety of Nigerian’s interest.
“We acknowledge that Ontario as a law abiding and responsible organisation owes a duty to our stakeholders, customers and business partners to clarify this malicious scheming by some people and hope that this will serve the purpose of vindicating our position on this matter,” the company said.
Ontario maintained that it is poised to continue to deliver excellent service to Nigerians, noting it has built a solid reputation as a company with great integrity.
“Our track record of decent business practices and strict obedience to processes is there for all to see. We cannot allow anyone to tarnish that hard-won image.
“We are a wholly indigenous company employing hundreds of Nigerians whose livelihoods and those of their families and dependants depend on us.
“It is sad that anyone will consider us fair game for a campaign of calumny designed to destroy our organisation. Even more perplexing is the extent these people are willing to go to achieve their purpose.
“We however wish to advise them that the sky is big enough to accommodate all players,” it stated.
Officials of the Nigerian Army on Monday took over the Ojodu Berger outlet of Capital Oil, buying petroleum products in drums, after scaring away thousands of consumers.
Fuel Scarcity
The armed personnel came in the guise of maintaining peace and order, but they soon abandoned their primary responsibility for fuel racket. They shoved, maltreated and sent away those who were on queue to be attended to, thereby gaining access to have their drums loaded with fuel.
As of press time, the unregistered white Isuzu truck they use for the ‘deal’ had visited the filling station for the fourth time.
The fourth truck was being loaded as of 8:50pm.
The vehicle, on each visit, left with at least 14 drums and dozens of gallons filled with fuel.
The helpless consumers, some of who slept at the filling station, suspected the soldiers were feeding the growing Lagos black market with the product.
The military officials who were fully dressed had taken over the only two pumps that dispensed the Premium Motor Spirit.
Those who protested the act were beaten and given scares on their bodies.
Meanwhile, consumers, who had spent the entire Monday at the filling station without getting the product to buy, had described the announcement by Ifeanyi Uba as a publicity stunt.
By 9pm on Monday, not more than a hundred cars left the station with fuel.
Besides the military, officials of the Nigeria Police Force and black market dealers took over the show while thousands of motorists who had crowded the place since 5am were abandoned.
Presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Maj. Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has condemned the hardship faced by Nigerians in the search for petrol, saying the citizens were wasting productive hours queuing at filling stations.
Buhari
“The countless number of man hours that will be spent at petrol stations will reduce our productivity as a nation. This should not be so,” Buhari said in a tweet on Tuesday.
The former head of state, who took to tweeter to react to the scarcity of the product, called on Nigerians to reject a system that had turned the country, which he described as the world’s largest crude exporter, into an importer of petrol.
The APC presidential candidate recalled that domestic consumption of petrol was taken care of when he was the Chairman of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and Minister of Petroleum in 1970.
He added that two of the country’s four refineries were built while he was the petroleum minister.
The APC presidential candidate expressed concern that Nigerians had been put at the mercy of importers as a result of the failure to meet domestic needs of the people by the refineries.
“But over the last several years, our refineries have declined and we are at the mercy of imports,” Buhari said.
Scarcity of premium motor spirit, popularly called petrol, worsened across the country on Tuesday with a litre of the product selling between N140 and N160 in Kogi State.
Investigation by one of our correspondents on Tuesday revealed acute shortage of petroleum products in the state with the few stations with fuel selling as high as 100 per cent over the official N87 per litre pump price.
Our correspondent noticed long queues in two filling stations that sold fuel at the Abuja bye-pass in Felele, in Lokoja.
Other filling stations along the road closed their gates to customers, dis[playing the “no fuel” signal.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Mr. Razak Atunwa, on Tuesday described as sad the allegation by the National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Adamu Mu’azu, that the ongoing fuel scarcity was caused by the APC.
Mu’azu reportedly said the APC had bribed oil marketers to hoard petroleum products nationwide.
The Speaker, in a statement by his media aide, Mr. Olawale Rotimi, decried the poor state of the nation’s economy.
He called on President Goodluck Jonathan to stop politicising the welfare of Nigerians, urging the President to re-position the nation’s economy to make it possible for Nigerians to embark on their daily activities.
Atunwa said, “Mu’azu has blamed the fuel scarcity on the opposition party, another flimsy excuse. No serious government will blame everything on the opposition; a serious government must take responsibility for whatever happens in the country.
“The Federal Government has spent trillions of Naira on so-called subsidy without accountability. Under Jonathan, over $8bn is lost annually to oil theft, the biggest Nigeria has ever experienced.
“Unfortunately, United States, who is the major importer of Nigerian oil since 1973, has announced that it will not import oil from Nigeria anymore, yet President Goodluck is not diversifying our economy.
“APC has no power to ignite scarcity of fuel in the nation; hence, Jonathan should take responsibility and stop politicising the wellbeing of Nigerians.”
The Federal Government has proposed the sum of N815.4m in this year’s budget for the purchase of fuel and lubricants for cars and generators for the Presidency, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation and their parastatals.
President Goodluck Jonathan
The amount was contained in the 2015 budget breakdown which was obtained by our correspondent on Friday, in Abuja.
The 2015 proposal of N815.4m, for fuel and lubricants is seven per cent or N61,984,177 lower than the N877,472,369 approved in 2014.
Out of the N815.4m, the fiscal document shows that a provision of N131, 911,315 was made for fuel and lubricants for the State House in 2015.
The breakdown of the figure for state house shows that plant/generator fuel will consume N35, 344,855; motor vehicle fuel, N85, 843,802; and cooking gas/fuel, N10, 102,858; this year.
The State House received lesser provision of N122, 855,267 for fuel and lubricants in the 2014 fiscal year.
This was broken down into motor vehicle fuel, N79, 950,407; plants and generators, N33, 476,963, and cooking gas/fuel cost, N9, 427,898.
For the vice-president, the 2015 budget proposal shows a provision of a total sum of N38,203,617 for the purchase of fuel and lubricants.
This is 7.14 per cent or N2,548,624 lower than the 2014 provision of N35,654,993.
A breakdown of the 2015 budget proposal of the vice-president shows that fueling of motor vehicle will consume the sum of N21,734,332, fueling of plant and generator has a provision of N12,734,332, while cooking gas/fuel is expected to consume the sum of N3,820,453.
Other agencies under the presidency were also not left out of the provision for fuel and lubricants.
They are the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President-Millennium Development Goals with N2,794,080; Nigeria Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies,N13,000,000; Bureau for Public Enterprises, N12,518,641; and the National Emergency Management Agency with N13,964,000.
Others are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission with a provision of N200,000,000; Bureau of Public Procurement, N17,179,301;Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, N3,469,326; Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission, N3,000,000; and the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, N2,919,062.
For the Office of the Secretary of the Government of the Federation, the budget breakdown shows that a provision of N48,181,702 was made for 2015.
Just like the presidency, the agencies under the office of the SGF also had similar provisions for fuel and lubricants. They are National commission for Refugees, N300,000; National Identity Management Commission, N46,063,109;National Merit Award, N7,504,843; Federal Road Safety Commission, N190,630,492 and New partnership for AfricanDevelopment, N10,773,600.
Others are National Action Committee on Aids, N3,000,000; National Hajj Commission, N11,131,012; Nigeria Christian Pilgrim Commission, N21,190,650; National Lottery Trust Fund, N2,400,000; National Lottery Regulatory Commission, N10,000,000; and Servicom N2,786,316.
The rest are Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reforms, N11,560,000; National Boundary Commission, N2,256,765; and Border Communities Development Agencies N6,350,361
The 2015 budget has a N4.358trn expenditure figure made up of N412bn for Statutory Transfers, N943bn for Debt Service, N2.61trn for Recurrent (Non-Debt) and N634bn for Capital Expenditure (inclusive of SURE-P).
While the recurrent vote is 85.8 per cent of aggregate budget, the capital expenditure is just 14.2 per cent of the aggregate spending (inclusive of SURE-P).
