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| Dr.Ibe Kachikwu |
MINISTER
of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has assured Nigerians that
the present increment on the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) is temporary
as a rapid drop by the market forces will amaze all and sundry in the next six
months.
The
Federal Government had on Wednesday announced the removal of fuel subsidy, with
a new petrol price band of N135 to N145 per litre, up from N86 and N86.50
leading to mixed reactions, with labour vowing to protest against it.
Kachikwu
explained that the Federal Government having reviewed the system came to a
logical conclusion that the removal of the subsidy is inevitable and would not
only ensure constant availability of the products but allow competition which
certainly will bring down the prices beyond the imagination of the citizens
adding that a lot of Nigerians will be amazed soon.
“You
will be amazed at what will happen to your N145 price because it will go
downwards. You don’t give what you don’t have. We want Nigerians to
understand that we feel the pain, and we have tried to avoid it since I came in
October. We have done everything we can.
“We
first went on to the issue of the subsidies that we inherited which, by the
way, were based on 50 to 55 million litres consumption, and we said the number
looked bloated. So, we did an experiment and came to a conclusion that this
country doesn’t
consume more than 45 million litres a day.
“Then
we came to a second point and said, ‘We
are not even going to have subsidy again. We are going to exit it because there
was just too much fraud involved in it. So, left with that option, what were we
supposed to do? We have struggled.
“Queues
continue to go and they are back. And it will continue to happen unless we
address the issues. If you free up Nigerians
to find sources of funds, they will find those secondary funds. They will
import the product; the burden on the NNPC will reduce and the country will
have peace and subsidy will go away permanently.
“I
am appealing to Nigerians to please for the first time realise that we are
doing our very best. I have together with everybody who is in this government
worked night and day looking for solutions. We
mean well and Nigerians should please trust us.
Give us
a chance, you will be surprised what will become of your PMS price over the
next six to eight months”,
Kachikwu said.
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