ABUJA – The National Economic Coun­cil (NEC) meeting chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday failed to reach any concrete resolution on the con­tentious issue of fuel pump price, including removal of subsidy, after several hours of delibera­tions.

Instead they dwelt on the im­plications of the COVID-19 pan­demic in the country and the need for Nigerians to take the vaccination more seriously.

They equally discussed Lassa fever and cholera prevalence in parts of the country.

The meeting also deliberated on the need for state governments to invest more on adolescent girls in society in order for the country to reap the gains in the future.

Edo State governor, Godwin Obaseki, who provided answers on alleged plans by government to increase the pump price of fuel, said though a NEC committee had been deliberating on the issue for over a year, they have not reached any decision on the matter yet.

He, however, confirmed that since the Petroleum In­dustry Act (PIA) was now in place, the country’s cash cow, Nigerian National Pe­troleum Company Limited, is expected to do its best in providing the required funding.

Nasarawa State gover­nor, Abdullahi Sule, cor­roborated Obaseki’s posi­tion, saying it was not a decision of the governors to fix price of fuel, but a recommendation of a NEC committee headed by the governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai.

Recall that there had been insinuations that the Federal Government was bent on increasing the price of premium motor spirit (PMS) from the current price of N165 to about N302, a development that has cre­ated uncertainty within the polity since the new year.

Obaseki said, “As you all know and aware of, the issue of subsidy is one mat­ter that NEC has deliberat­ed on for more than a year.

“The cost of PMS is about N160 a litre where­as every other country around Nigeria cost much more.

“We have spent almost N2 trillion subsidising pe­troleum products. The is­sue now is should we con­tinue this regime of money, we do not have to continue to subsidise. We realised that less than 1/3 of the states consume all the re­sources put into subsidy. But NEC has not resolved on anything yet”.

Sule said, “We all know that PIB is now an Act, so if the Minister of Fi­nance has provided for six months, we have to wait to see how the NNPC which is now a limited liability company will do its best, it’s not the governors that would make that decision”.

According to the Nasara­wa State governor, resourc­es available to states are being depleted, especially with the inequality associ­ated with 13% derivation.

He said, last year, the NNPC fell short of payment of about N200 billion into the Federations Account, noting that such shortfall was an indication of less funds available to states.

He said, “What was presented at NEC was for NEC to note the decisions about the deductions of 13 percent derivation, refunds had to be made on the un­constitutional deductions.

“On how it is affecting states as at last year, NNPC was supposed to present N200 billion for FAAC but because of the deductions less money goes to the states”.