The National Economic Council (NEC) has set June 2022 to take a decision on contentious issue of petrol subsidy removal.
That, it said, is when the provision for subsidy payment in the 2022 budget expires.
The council chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo met at the presidential villa, Abuja, on Thursday, affirming that as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is now a limited liability company, it must be run differently.
Speaking with journalists after the meeting, Nasarawa State governor, Abdullahi Sule, said provision for the payment of the subsidy is made in the 2022 budget only until June.
Sule was joined at the post-NEC press briefing by his Edo State counterpart, Godwin Obaseki.
According to him, any decision on the removal of subsidy will be taken after the budget provision runs its course in June.
He said even though NEC has been having conservation on the matter, it is yet to take a position on it.
Obaseki said that Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), which sells for N162-165 per litre in Nigeria, sells a hundred per cent higher in other countries.
He noted that the Federal government is spending about N2 trillion on petroleum subsidy, arguing that the amount have been used for other purposes.
According to him, the NEC, therefore, wondered whether that should be allowed to continue in a situation where he observed only two-thirds of the states of the federation consume the subsidy.