L
LequteMan
Guest
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, has confirmed that the federal government has been subsidising the price of petrol sold to the populace by oil marketers.
In several interviews conducted with authority figures at the NNPC and PPPRA, it was established that government has quietly been paying the difference for months.
“The landing costs hovers around N160 to N165. The marketers buy from us and so the government bears it because it feels it will be unfair to make the consumer pay the difference," someone at the Petroleum Ministry said.
“With the current recession, the government will not want to burden the people with a price hike,’’ the source said.
The commodity currently sells for N145 per litre around the nation, with minor differences in some areas and there have been rumors that the price is about to rise. This fear was echoed by an official of the NNPC, since government is now subsidising the product.
“Soon the government may not be able to pay the price difference again because it runs into billions of naira”, said the official.
“The solution is full deregulation. Let the consumer feel it once and for all. This politics of walking around the problem won’t help at all," the official added.
In several interviews conducted with authority figures at the NNPC and PPPRA, it was established that government has quietly been paying the difference for months.
“The landing costs hovers around N160 to N165. The marketers buy from us and so the government bears it because it feels it will be unfair to make the consumer pay the difference," someone at the Petroleum Ministry said.
“With the current recession, the government will not want to burden the people with a price hike,’’ the source said.
The commodity currently sells for N145 per litre around the nation, with minor differences in some areas and there have been rumors that the price is about to rise. This fear was echoed by an official of the NNPC, since government is now subsidising the product.
“Soon the government may not be able to pay the price difference again because it runs into billions of naira”, said the official.
“The solution is full deregulation. Let the consumer feel it once and for all. This politics of walking around the problem won’t help at all," the official added.
