Subsidising
Minister: Why Nigerian government insists on removing petrol subsidy
The Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, on Tuesday, reiterated the need to deregulate the downstream petroleum through the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit. According to him, only the wealthy were currently benefiting from the subsidy. The minister spoke during the leadership and governors’ discourse on open government partnership held in Abuja, on Tuesday. He said, “Some will say if you take out fuel subsidies the ordinary man will suffer, how will the ordinary man suffer? Is it in terms of food? Vehicles that are used for moving food are heavy-duty vehicles. And they don’t use PMS, they use diesel and that has since been deregulated. Those that we are actually subsidising are the very rich. “Those who drive the Rolls Royce, the Lamborghinis and other ...
Petrol smuggling: Nigerian government using device to track trucks, smugglers
The Federal Government says it has facilitated the use of a tracking device to track every truck loading petroleum product from any of its depots as part of efforts to nip smuggling in the bud and arrest culprits. Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, said this at a forum organised by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) to gauge the achievements recorded in the oil and gas sector in the last two years. Sylva noted that a lot had been achieved in the industry but that the activities of smugglers had continued to overshadow the successes especially as it concerned fuel subsidy and the quantity of petroleum products consumed in the country. “This is one big question that we try to answer ourselves because when we look at the number of load-outs from our depots every day...
