By Abba Gwale
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, has said that Nigerians should expect increment in the pump price of petrol due to the current economic situation in the country.
The Minister said this during an interview with newsmen during the graduation and awards ceremony organized by the Offshore Technology Institute, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
According to the Minister, government would soon scrap the current subsidy regime for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), because the system was only benefiting certain number of people in the country.
“It 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.
Can 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 don’t want to identify the people that are benefiting.
“Subsidy 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,” the Minister said.
Sylvia however said, “Right 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.”
In his address, acting Director, Offshore Technology Institute, University of Port Harcourt, Dr Robinson Briggs tagged the graduands as a unique and special group of students who during the course of the study suffered the great challenge of COVID-19 pandemic.
