August 17, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government has declared the pump price of petrol will remain at N162 until it agrees with the Organised Labour for full deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector.
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, stated this in a chat with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.
Sylva, who hinted that President Buhari will speak on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) on Wednesday, said there is a consensus that the Federal Government should deregulate the sector.
According to him, it is now constitutional for Nigeria to deregulate the oil and gas sector.
Asked on the deregulation date, Sylva noted: “I cannot give you a timeline now. But it is not going to be too far from now because we have done quite a lot of extensive work.”
He said as soon as the government and the Organised Labour agree on the process of putting infrastructure in place, Nigeria will deregulate.
He said: “So we will keep it here at N162 within that band now for the time being but we are also in the time at the moment trying to work out to allow the deregulation to come to fruition.”
Sylva, however disclosed that the oil industry has cut costs by 5 percent.
About the Author
