Fuel Price Hike: Nigeria Government Still Subsidizing Fuel - Minister Reveals

The Minister of State for Petroleum Timipre Sylva has revealed that the Federal Government is yet to stop subsidizing petroleum products in the country.

Sylva who made this revelation while appearing as a guest on Channels TV program on Monday said that the Buhari-led government had commenced the process to deregulate petroleum product.

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Further stating that the Federal Government had not been able to get to that 100 per cent removal of subsidy, Sylva said :

“We are still trying to manage this bumpy start. We have not really been able to get to that 100 percent removal of subsidy from the foreign exchange end.

“If we were to actually take it out completely and allow people to access foreign exchange from the parallel market and allow people to import the product, the price of the pump will even be more.

“The Federal Government, knowing the impact it will have on the people, decided that they are still going to manage this situation.”

Making reference to Kerosine and diesel that has been deregulated, Sylva wondered why it was difficult for petrol to be deregulated.

“I don’t see that as an embarrassment at all. As a country, Nigeria is a big market. We need products. Even if all our refineries are functioning, we will still need extra products.

“Niger Republic produces oil and they are landlocked as a country. They have a refinery that refines in excess of what they require.

“They offered to sell the excess to Nigeria because this is a bigger market. In the spirit of regional cooperation, regional trade, we decided to buy from them. I don’t see anything wrong with that,” he said.