President Jonathan Set To Remove Fuel Subsidy

The Goodluck Jonathan Government have concluded plans to stop subsidising the consumption of petroleum products in the country, especially petrol and kerosene following increasingly dwindling revenue. Yet in the last 6years, the same government have not been able to development another source of income.

The government said: “Without belabouring the point, we are all aware that the government has to deregulate the downstream sector. Continuing regulation, we all are aware, has negative effects. It is basically unsustainable, it discourages investment, and principally, it benefits the rich, not the masses in the society that we intend to reach in the first place. 

“This means that deregulation is the only way in which capital investment can be encouraged. It can give employment opportunities. At the same time, we are all aware that in a democratic polity, there has to be a balance between different policies and directives of government and the needs and desires of the people of Nigeria at all times.”

Nigeria produces crude oil, but can't even refine products for its citizens. Serious countries around the world who do not even have crude oil have built functional refineries. So, who is fooling who?

Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, gave hint of the planned removal of subsidies on both petrol and kerosene by the Federal Government on Tuesday at the Nigerian Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja.

If the subsidies on both products are removed, Nigerians will be paying a minimum of N144.66 for a litre of petrol against the official regulated price of N97.

N144.66 is the landing cost of the product and the distribution margins as contained in the pricing template as prepared by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency for the month of March.

For kerosene, consumers will have to pay N154.36 per litre, which comprises the landing cost of N138.87 and distribution margins of N15.49, instead of the official pump price of N50.