Oil marketers in Nigeria have expressed their displeasure on the Federal Government, FG’s delay of petrol subsidy removal.
Expressing their frustrations for the umpteenth time over the delay in the removal of petrol subsidy and total deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry, the marketers lamented that the economy is bleeding and investors’ confidence is getting floored every day.
According to them, the petrol subsidy is giving room for unhealthy competition in the downstream sector, which they said is unnecessary and unsustainable.
Owing to this, the immediate-past Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Tunji Oyebanji said the delay in discarding the petrol subsidy has made life complicated for them and their business.
Adding that the choice was the government’s to make in the matter, Oyebanji said the industry was waiting for the government to finally decide to remove it.
He noted that they, the downstream players had been making efforts in preparation for the deregulation of the sector as approved by the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021.
Oyebanji said, “Even if I’m worried from now till forever, if the government doesn’t take action, unfortunately, it’s not within my power or the industry. It’s the government’s decision. So, we have to wait until they decide to do what they want to do.
“We have always been making efforts in preparation for the deregulation of the sector. When the PIB was passed, the plan was to deregulate the downstream and we really geared up to it.
“In fact, the delay has made life a bit complicated for us because we thought we would have proceeded by now. We had been prepared all along, we had organised ourselves to fully compete. But that hasn’t happened.”
How much does the Nigerian government pay as petrol subsidy?
Between February 2021 and June 2022, Nigeria has paid no less than N2.802 trillion as petrol subsidy.
While the monies paid for the subsidy in the whole of 2021 was N1.43 trillion, between January and June of 2022, the country has almost equaled that amount, hitting N1.372 trillion in the first six months of this year.
