The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipreye Sylva, has defended the recent increase in the pump price of petrol.
Sylva in a statement, cited Nigeria’s inability to attract the level of investments into the refining sector has been the burden of fuel subsidy.
The statement further quoted the Minister that after a thorough examination of the economics of subsidising Premium Motor Spirit, LSO known as petrol for domestic consumption, the Federal Government concluded that it was unrealistic to continue with the burden of subsidizing PMS to the tune of trillions of Naira every year.
Deregulation according to Sylva means that the Government will no longer continue to be the main supplier of Petroleum Products, but will encourage the private sector to takeover the role of supplier of Petroleum Products.
The statement added, “Government will continue to play its role of regulation; to ensure that this strategic commodity is not priced arbitrarily by private sector suppliers; a regulatory function not unlike the role played by the Central Bank of Nigeria in the banking sector; ensuring that commercial banks do not charge arbitrary interest rates.”
Sylva insisted that, ” There was no time Government promised to reduce Pump Price and keep it permanently low.”
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Finally, he said the government was very mindful of the likely impact higher PMS prices would have on Nigerians and is working hard to alleviate this by rolling out the auto-gas scheme, which will provide Nigerians with alternative sources of fuel and at a lower cost.
(Editor: Sola Jaiyesimi)
