The federal government has said that removing petrol subsidy would result in unintended consequences.
The government said now is a most inauspicious time to withdraw the subsidy.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, stated this in an interview with Reuters.
According to him, many other nations were introducing measures to help citizens cope with high oil energy prices and that Nigeria could not be an exception.
The minister’s position on petrol subsidy is in tandem with that of President Muhammadu Buhari, who recently took a swipe at the West for demanding the removal of what the government termed under-recovery, while they continued to seek new ways to relieve their own citizens of the effect of the harsh global economy.
“When you consider the chaos, the social disharmony and … instability such an action (abolishing subsidies) would facilitate, is it worth it? I don’t think so,” Mohammed said in the interview.
He added that a new industry law that allocates money to oil-producing communities would stop attacks and blamed the European Union’s climate change policies for stifling investment in the sector.
“We believe that climate change is real and important for emission control, but there is a bit of double standard in the EU policy regarding climate change,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) has expressed concern over the rising incidents of vandalism and theft along the key pipeline conveying refined petroleum products to Mosimi, Ibadan, Ore, and Ilorin fuel depots.
Chief Executive Officer of NMDPRA, Farouk Ahmed, said this when the top executives of the South-west Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) visited him in Abuja.
The 2B pipeline network pumps petroleum products from the Atlas Cove depot in Lagos Island through the depots in Ejigbo in Lagos Mainland, to Mosimi in Ogun State, Ibadan in Oyo State, Ore in Ondo State, and Ilorin in Kwara State.
The NMDPRA chief executive said the series of theft and vandalism had led to huge revenue losses for the government.
Speaking when the top executives of the South-west IPMAN visited him in Abuja, Ahmed described the association as a critical stakeholder in the petroleum sector.
He added that the industry regulatory authority had received complaints about private petroleum products depots selling Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly called petrol, above the approved price of N165 per litre.
Ahmed said the illegal price increment had disrupted the smooth operation of the entire fuel distribution and supply value chain, leading to higher prices in some areas.
He urged the association to report any fuel depot selling products to its members above the approved ex-depot prices by the government.
In his remarks, the zonal chairman of IPMAN in the South-west, Dele Lamidi, said the executive committee visited NMDPRA to seek its collaboration and support, in line with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), 2021.
