Petrol may sell for ₦300 as FG decides on subsidy today

The Federal Government is likely to put an end to the fuel subsidy regime with the signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The government’s position of fuel subsidy would form the major item during the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva’s press conference on the petroleum industry law, which holds today (Tuesday).

It was gathered that with the signing of the PIB into law, the cost of petrol could jump to as high as N300 per litre from the current N162-N165 per litre upon the implementation of the law if market forces were allowed to determine the price as stipulated in the new law.

It was learnt that another issue that the minister would address was the unbundling of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, in a statement on Monday, disclosed that Buhari had signed the PIB.

The statement was titled: ‘President Buhari Signs Petroleum Industry Bill into Law’.

Working from home for the five-day quarantine as stipulated by the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19 after returning from London on Friday, August 13, the President assented to the Bill.

In the original version of the executive bill, five per cent of oil revenue was proposed for the oil-bearing communities.

The Senate and the House, in passing the PIB, had approved three per cent and five per cent, respectively for the host communities.

Both chambers had set up the conference committee to harmonise the differences in their versions of the PIB.

The conference committee had approved three per cent, which generated protests in the House.

While the Senate adopted the three per cent recommendation on July 15, 2021, the consideration of the report by the committee was frustrated by southern members in the House, forcing the Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, to step it down.

The House, however, adopted the three per cent and passed the PIB without the votes of members of the minority caucus, who are predominantly southern lawmakers.

The action of the National Assembly attracted condemnation from groups, including the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, which described the approved percentage as injustice to the people of the Niger Delta region.

Meanwhile, a Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Garba-Deen Muhammad, said, “The minister will tell the press the next steps tomorrow (Tuesday).”

However, a professor of Petroleum Economics and Policy Research, Wumi Iledare, told one of our correspondents that the NNPC would not remain the same going by the provisions of the new law.