Skip to main content

No Going Back On Fuel Subsidy – Buhari

 




President Muhammadu Buhari has said that there will be negative consequences if the government continues with the business of fixing or subsidising the prices of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as petrol.

Mr Buhari, represented by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, gave this explanation on Monday while declaring open a 2-day First Year Ministerial Performance Review Retreat at the State House Conference Centre, Abuja.

The president said that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a severe downturn in the funds available to finance the nations’ budget and also severely hampered government’s capacity.

Mr Buhari said that one of the steps the government took at the beginning of the crisis in March when oil prices collapsed at the height of the global lockdown was the deregulation of PMS.

He, however, assured that the government is working towards mitigating the impact of the deregulation on the citizens.

"There are several negative consequences if the government should even attempt to go back to the business of fixing or subsidising PMS prices.

First of all, it would mean a return to the costly subsidy regime; today we have 60 per cent less revenues; we just cannot afford the cost.

The second danger is the potential return of fuel queues – which has, thankfully, become a thing of the past under this administration.

“Nigerians no longer have to endure long queues just to buy petrol, often at highly inflated prices; also, as I hinted earlier, there is no provision for fuel subsidy in the revised 2020 budget"

Simply because we are not able to afford it, if reasonable provisions must be made for health, education and other social services,’’ he said.

The president said that the government is extremely mindful of the pains that higher prices mean at this time.

He said that the government did not take the sacrifices that all Nigerians had to make for granted.

We will continue to seek ways and means of cushioning pains especially for the most vulnerable in our midst.

We will also remain alert to our responsibilities to ensure that marketers do not exploit citizens by raising pump price arbitrarily.

“This is the role that the government must now play through the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

$114.28m COVID-19 loan: SERAP asks World Bank to make Nigeria ‘publicly commit to transparency’

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has sent an open letter to the World Bank President Mr David Malpass, urging him to use his “good offices to encourage the Federal Government and 36 state governments to publicly commit to transparency and accountability in the spending of the $114.28m credit and grant for COVID-19, which the Bank’s Board of Directors recently approved for Nigeria, including by publishing details on a dedicated websit". SERAP also urged Mr Malpass to “put pressure on authorities and the 36 state governors to accept voluntary scrutiny by Nigerians and civil society regarding the spending of the funds and use of the resources, including on how they will spend the money to buy medical equipment, and improve access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene" The World Bank Board of Directors last Friday approved a $114.28 financing “to help Nigeria prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 with a specific focus on state level...

Notorious Fulani Boys Killing Farmers In Edo Forest Caught & Their Confession

Notorious Fulani Boys Killing Farmers In Edo Forest Caught And Their Confession Will Shock U. Video Below:

Looted COVID Palliatives Were Meant For Special Vulnerable Group – Kwara Govt

  The state government in a statement signed by the Commissioner for Communications, Harriet Afolabi-Oshatimehin, on Friday, said the items were meant for the poor and a special group of vulnerable people. The Commissioner said further that CACOVID and the state government on September 23rd flagged off the distribution of the palliatives and had distributed the majority of the palliatives to the identified vulnerable households in 15 of the 16 local government areas of the state. “The remaining palliatives in the terminal, which the hoodlums preyed on until chased away by security agencies, were meant for special vulnerable groups and just one local government where names of the beneficiaries have just been delivered and officials have started distributing when the street urchins breached the wall of the facility,” the statement added. Afolabi-Oshatimehin explained that the looted items were meant for specific households, as dictated by CACOVID, and so names had to be properly gene...