
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources,Β Timipre Sylva, on Friday, called on Nigerians to be ready forΒ increment in the price of petrol.
Sylva stated this while addressing newsmen at the graduation and awards ceremony organised by the Offshore Technology Institute, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where 14 masterβs degree graduands of its 2019/2020 Batch Seven were recognised on Friday.
The Minister further stated that President Muhammadu Buhari-led government would soon scrap subsidy for petrol, which, according to him, was βbenefiting certain businessmen in the country.β
The minister said, βIt is very unfortunate that if (there is) an increment in fuel pump price, (it) would have an impact on the marketplace and we are not happy about that. The President especially does not want to do it, but the economic realities are staring us in the face.
βCan we continue to support the subsidy, which is not necessarily benefiting the ordinary person, but is benefiting certain individuals who are businessmen in the country? I donβt want to identify the people that are benefiting.
βSubsidy is not directly benefitting Nigerians; the biggest contact with Nigerians is kerosene consumption used by local persons for cooking; as for diesel, it is used to transport food items and so on. But these have been deregulated for a long time now.β
According to him, PMS, which he said is not the preferred fuel of the common man, continues to defy deregulation.
He added that, because PMS proponents are the most vocal, they continue to kick against deregulation βbut we are going to get there.β
Sylvia added, βRight now, we are still in discussion with stakeholders, so we have decided to go on with subsidy for some time, until we are able to conclude our discussions with the stakeholders and announce the policy direction.β
(C) Newspot
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