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| APC Chieftain, Lanre Issa-Onilu |
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Lanre Issa-Onilu, says that no official of the President Bola Tinubu administration has said that the government will temporarily return petrol subsidy to ease the pain suffered by Nigerians.
Issa-Onilu, an APC former Deputy Director of Communication Strategy, spoke on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme.
Tinubu had on May 29, 2023 during his inauguration speech, announced the removal of petrol subsidy, with a litre of Premium Motor Spirit rising immediately from N184 to N500 and then to over N600.
With the attendant economic effects of subsidy removal including food inflation, there had been rumours and reports (not by Channels Television) that the President was considering to temporarily return the subsidy regime to ease the hardship faced by many Nigerians.
When asked for comments on the reports, Issa-Onilu said “We should always rely on official sources. No such information has come from any official source to say we are going to bring back subsidy.”
He said the government has no role to play in the prices of petroleum products. “People import fuel and sell at prices but government cannot fold its arms and allow people to continue to suffer,” the APC chieftain said.
“They have looked at the numbers and said these prices cannot continue to go up if we deal with the inefficiencies in the system. The inefficiencies in the importation and delivery because that comes with cost.
“The government is trying to address everything along the value chain to ensure that there is smooth operation and nothing compound the transactions and make things easier for the businessmen involved.”
With forex scarcity biting harder, some oil marketers have threatened to raise petrol price as the landing cost of petrol rises but the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited and the President said there was no plan for such.
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