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| Dr. Ibe Kachikwu |
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe
Kachikwu, has promised Nigerians that the fuel of price of Premium Motor Spirit
will come down in the next six months.
Speaking this morning on Channels at the Sunrise Daily
programme, Kachikwu said the said the move to hike the price to N145 per litre was
necessary in order put an end to fuel scarcity in the country.
He said the market dynamics would take hold fast “because
there are a lot of Nigerians who are very active, very bullish, very talented
in doing this; they just have been prevented by government intrusions.
According to Kechikwu, “As it gets better and it gets to a
point where we find that the market has stabilised in terms of supply, we will
begin to pull back a bit in terms of determinants for pricing.”
“you will be amazed at what will happen to your N145 price
because it will go downwards.”
The minister said as a result of the decline in government
earnings from oil, it could not provide foreign exchange for the importation of
fuel.
“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 yo 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,” he added.
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