IBADAN: The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said he was working on a presidential directive to keep the pump price of petrol where it is.
Speaking at a special session with newsmen at the end of the Nigeria International Petroleum Summit (NIPS), the minister said President Muhammadu Buhari was very concerned about the difficult time Nigerians were facing.
“For now the directives we are working on is that no price increases because people are already going through a lot of groaning and difficult time and obviously the president is very concerned,” Kachikwu said.
He said that at the moment the landing price of petrol was higher than the sale price but that government does not want to increase price.
A committee, according to him, headed by the Vice President has made recommendations to the president on what needs to be done.
The minister explained that it was critical to bring back private market players to import products because it was too much of a burden for the NNPC to be the last supplier to the country.
“We need to find things that enable us provide incentive to the private sector to come back to business and it should something that will last over the next 18 months whilst the refineries are being rekitted,” he said.
“But after that if we still do not address the market fundamentals of the business it will be like what you are suffering in power whereby…we have refused to pay the right price for power.”
In his closing speech Kachikwu said, “We must very quickly establish regulatory and legislative certainty. Whatever it is you do with the PIB, various arms of it should be done and dusted with so that investors can have clarity in terms of where they can underpin their investments.”
He said the government was looking at investment portfolios over the next two to three years of close to $40 billion although about $100 billion worth of investment was ultimately needed to drive the sector
Earlier while declaring the conference close, Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo assured oil and gas operators of the Federal Government’s commitment to creating the enabling environment for the industry to achieve its destiny in Africa.
(DAILY TRUST)
