By John Ikani
Timipre Sylva, Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, says the Federal Government has not set date for petrol subsidy removal.
Mr Sylva who said this on Thursday when he appeared on Channels Television’s Politics Today, added that the government is being considerate of citizens.
He went on to note that the government is making efforts to put structures in place to cushion the effect of the eventual subsidy removal.
According to him, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is leading the efforts on the subsidy removal policy, adding that Nigerians will soon be informed about the date when it will become effective.
What Mr Sylva is saying
“I cannot give you a date for now. But the Vice President is actually leading the efforts and very soon, we will tell Nigerians what date the removal of subsidy will kick in.
“We must be considerate of our people; you cannot say because you have the muscle, box everybody down in the room. So, what we are saying is that before doing this, we need to put some structures in place so that the impact on the people can be minimized. We are trying to create an alternative that is cheaper and more affordable.
“We also think that there should be some palliatives,” the minister added.
What you should know
The minister had in June stressed that to progress, Nigeria must remove subsidy on petrol.
According to him: “I strongly believe that for this country to move forward, for our economy to make the progress it desires, we need to have a market-driven pricing of products.”
“A situation where you produce something at a certain cost and you have to sell it at a lower cost to people because you are taking some of that burden off the people is not the best.
“It is a very desirable thing but it is also not too sustainable because what happens is that you produce it for N10, you sell it for N5; tomorrow, you produce it again at N10, you add N5 from somewhere, produce it again at N10 and sell it for another N5.
“So, the losses increase and compound on a daily basis and those accumulated losses have brought us to where we are,” he said.
