“The subsidy policy
cannot be sustained any longer,” the minister said.
About a week after she told federal
lawmakers that the federal government had no plans to remove subsidy on petrol,
the Minister of Petroleum, Diezani Alison-Madueke, said on Tuesday that payment
of subsidy on petrol ‘cannot be sustained any longer.’
Mrs. Alison-Madueke stated this at
the ongoing Nigeria Oil and Gas Conference in Abuja.
“The continued regulation of the
downstream sector has its positive and negative impact on the economy, but the
negative effect is more than the positive,” the minister said.
“The subsidy policy cannot be
sustained any longer.
“This is because the subsidy
payment did not benefit the poor it was targeting, but rather it is benefiting
the rich,” she added.
Mrs. Alison-Madueke said there was
the need to deregulate the downstream oil sector to attract investors. She said that in considering the
deregulation of the downstream sector, government must strike a balance in implementing some of its policies to meet the needs of Nigerians.
“Now that reforms in power sector
are underway, the next focus should be reforms in the downstream sub-sector.“The industry needs to move to next level by increasing revenue and curb oil theft and pipeline vandalism,” she said. Read More
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