The Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi has said he regret his decision to join and spending so much on the All Progressive Congress (APC). Lamenting, Rotimi Amaechi said if not for the intervention of Dr Bukola Saraki, he wouldn’t have been confirmed as Minister. Read full statement below: “I started regretting my decision for joining and expending so much on APC when I discovered some top APC chieftains from CPC and ACN blocs were working clandestinely against my confirmation as Minister by the National Assembly. If you recalled, unlike other nominees, I attended several NASS screening sessions before I was attended to.I don’t know why they did it but if not for the firm stand of Dr Bukola Saraki,I wouldn’t have been confirmed as a minister. I will remain grateful to him. What they failed to do at the National Assembly they succeeded in doing when the President was apportioning ministerial portfolios. Against my wish,I was given minister of Transport. As if that is not humiliating enough,they removed the juicy department of that ministry( Aviation) and made it a semi autonomous Ministry under my Minister of State. I cannot exonerate the President from not knowing how I am being shabbily treated because my pact was with him and he knew what my dues were supposed to be but today,he has not redeemed any of the promises to me. I begin to ask myself everyday why I made such a political blunder. The most painful thing is that,my people who used to love me now hate me. They hate me for joining APC. Look,it is not about Goodluck or anybody. The people of Rivers see APC as a dubious arrangement and unanimously vowed never to support the party. If you want to prove me wrong, let Wike as powerful as he is now in the PDP try it by jumping to APC,he will never convince the people to go along with him. That is the mistake Akpabio just made. The people of Akwa Ibom,Cross Rivers and Rivers think same politically. APC can never be their choice of a political party. Don’t be deceived,these states do not want favors or anything from the CENTRE unlike most states. They are self sufficient and cannot be induced with anything. Take my case for example. A commissioner for Transport in Rivers State is more comfortable that a Minister for transport at the Federal. This is the truth. I have bore all travails I am suffering in APC with all equanimity but there comes a time where I have to start weighing my options and that time is now. Ibeh,let me tell you,I don’t think I have the will to work for APC any longer. I cannot point to anything they have done better than PDP except bad governance. I have been rendered politically indolent. The only tangible thing I have done of late is to be commissioning railway projects executed by the Jonathan’s PDP regime. Do you know how painful that is? It is as humiliating and painful as when a goalkeeper has to bring the ball from his own net put there by the opposing team. Ibeh,the reason I have not left APC is no longer what people will say about it. It is because I have not been approached by any serious party. You know with my political standing,I should not be the one to beg parties to accept me. They should court and beg me to join them. Even if PDP comes calling now,I don’t know whether I have the courage to refuse them”

The federal government said it will cost N3trillion to fund petrol subsidy this year at N270 billion per month, the Federal Government said yesterday.

This is based on the projection submitted by the  Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited after the government announced a stay of action on petrol subsidy removal.

Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, said N443 billion was budgeted for subsidy from January to June.

This will have to be increased and sourced, she added.

The minister spoke with State House Correspondents after the week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

The Federal Government on Monday put subsidy removal on hold to allow for relief measures. It said it would provide for subsidy payment beyond June.

The decision has affected the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

Mrs Ahmed said FEC approved a proposed amendment to the 2022 Budget toaccommodate the additional subsidy funding.

According to her, council proposed a year-long provision for subsidy, taking into consideration the prevailing economic realities.

She said: “We presented to council a request for consideration to make additional funding provisions to enable us to meet incremental fuel subsidy request in the 2022 Budget.

“In the 2022 Budget, as appropriated, we made a provision of N443 billion for subsidy for January to June.

“Having taken into account the current realities, increased hardship on the population, heightened inflation, and that the measures that needed to be taken to enable a smoother exit from the fuel subsidy are not yet in place, it was agreed by Council that it is undesirable to exit fuel subsidy now.

“The NNPC has presented to the ministry a request for N3 trillion as fuel subsidy 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.

“In 2021, the actual under-recovery that has been charged to the Federation was N1.2 trillion, which means an average of N100 billion.

“In 2022, because of the increased crude oil price per barrel in the global market, now at $80 per barrel, and also because NNPC assesses that the country is consuming 65.7 million litres per day, now we’ll end up with the incremental cost of N3 trillion in 2022.

“So, this has been considered by Council and we’ve also been asked to approach the National Assembly for an amendment to the fiscal framework as well as the Budget, to also further discuss with NNPC on how to make provisions for this and also how to rationalise this expenditure.”

The minister gave an insight into how the N3 trillion for subsidy will be sourced.

She said: “We’re going to engage NNPC to further interrogate the request that they presented to see how we can scale it down.

“We agreed with the view of governors, that there is a need to scale down on the size.

“Even as the government is not immediately removing the fuel subsidy, we have to make sure that what the nation is incurring is efficient, and that it is a real cost that has been consumed by the country.

“How do we fund it? We’ll have to reduce it from that N3 trillion.

“Secondly, we have several reconciliations with NNPC and NNPC itself is owing (the government) in some cases.

“We want to be able to settle some of the subsidy costs through this reconciliation process.

“When we’re done with that, whatever is left that we’re not able to apply to what an NNPC is owing the Federation will not be increasing the deficit.

“That means increased domestic borrowing. But we haven’t finished the reconciliation. This is just the second day.”