Oil Windfall Bypasses Nigeria as Fuel Subsidies Eat Into Revenue
- Nigerian state oil company spent most of revenue on subsidies
- Company did not contribute anything to government account
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Nigeria’s national energy company spent almost two-thirds of its revenue subsidizing gasoline in the first quarter of the year and contributed no money to the government despite soaring oil prices.
Data published by the Nigerian National Petroleum Co. show how high oil prices are weighing down rather than boosting public finances in Africa’s largest crude producer. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have repeatedly urged Nigeria’s government to remove the subsidy on gasoline, which is forecast to cost the country as much as $9.6 billion this year.