Lai Mohammed Says Nigerians Will Soon Buy Petrol Cheap

Nigeria’s Minister of information and Culture, Lai Mohammed has said that Nigerians will soon be able to buy fuel at a cheaper price, Nigerian Tribune reports.

The minister disclosed this on Tuesday, September 15, during a media tour of the Waltersmith Modular Refinery and Petro-Chemical Company Limited, in Ibigwe, Ohaji Egbema local government area of Imo state.

The minister also explained that the arrival of medium-scale refineries Nigerians will soon experience cheaper petroleum products.

“With this kind of refinery, all issues of subsidy become completely irrelevant because we would be able to get fuel at a cheaper price, especially because everything that is being produced will be for local consumption,” he said.

According to Alhaji Mohammed, the federal government will encourage the establishment of modular refineries in order to crash the price of petrol.

He went on to note that though every government has been talking about modular refineries, none have succeeded until now with this current administration.

The Minister lauded the partnership between the Waltersmith Refinery and the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board that holds a 30 per cent stake in the refinery, which will start with 5,000bpd, add 25,000bpd in the second stage and then another 20,000bpd to bring the capacity to 50,000bpd in the third and final phase.

He said the Administration will continue to showcase its monumental achievements because it has performed well in the execution of projects across the country.

This development is coming after the federal government stated that petrol should be sold for N181 per litre if all cost implications are considered and factored in rather than the present pump price of N161.

ALSO READ: Trump Confident That COVID-19 Vaccine Will Be Ready By October, Contradicts Top Expert

This was disclosed by the minister of state for petroleum, Timipre Silva on Tuesday, September 15 at the bipartite meeting between the federal government and the organised labour, held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, in Abuja.

Sylva, a former governor of oil-producing Bayelsa state, pointed out that Nigeria lost a total N10.413 trillion to subsidy between 2006 and 2019, while between the year 2016 and 2019, he said the federal government lost a total sum of N2.193 trillion on subsidy.

He pointed out that if the sector was fully deregulated and the dollar exchange rate was fully factored in, the fuel price would not be N161 but N183 per litre.

Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported that the federal government has been issued a two-week ultimatum by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to reverse the recent increase in the pump price of petrol and electricity tariff.

The union noted that this was the outcome of the Central Working Committee meeting which held for several hours in Abuja.

The NLC in a communiqué read by its president, Ayuba Wabba said the 2-weeks ultimatum takes effect immediately.

NLC also warned that at the end of its expiration on Monday, September 28, it would mobilize its members nationwide for civil unrest.