Amid the ongoing hike in the pump price of petrol at filling stations across, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (lPMAN) has said petrol subsidy in Nigeria was no longer sustainable.
While lamenting the embarrassing gap between expenditure and revenue in the 2023 proposed budget, National President of IPMAN, Mike Osatuyi, noted the government hoped to finance subsidy on petrol up to June 2023 at a cost of N3.6 trillion, using Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) official rate of N435 to a dollar.
He thus advocated total deregulation as a solution to challenges confronting the downstream sector.
“Subsidy regime does not allow competition, while monopoly is the language of petrol business as the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Ltd. is the sole importer, manager and distributor of petrol.
“Subsidy kills efficiency in the procurement and supply chain of petrol business operations and deprives the government of huge revenue. Nigeria’s debt servicing of N6.3 trillion per year is not healthy for the country with mere capital expenditure of N5.35 trillion.
“2023 budget projected crude oil production of 1.69 million per day, which is achievable in view of pragmatic measures taken by the government for pipeline surveillance and zero tolerance to crude oil theft,” he said.
