The Federal Government has said it cannot continue paying for fuel subsidy and advised Nigerians to brace up for an increment in the pump price of petrol.
This is according to Chief Timipre Sylva, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources.
Sylva stated this while addressing journalists on the sidelines of a graduation and awards ceremony organised by the Offshore Technology Institute, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where 14 master’s degree graduands of its 2019/2020 Batch Seven were recognised on Friday.
He said the Federal Government would soon scrap the current subsidy regime for Premium Motor Spirit, which, according to him, was “benefiting certain businessmen in the country.”
The minister said, “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.”
