As crude oil price climbs above $60 per barrel in the international market, the minister of state for petroleum resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva has asked Nigerians to gird their loins as they will have to bear the pains of consequent increase in the pump price of petrol and other petroleum products.
The minister stated this at the official launch of Nigerian Upstream Cost Optimisation Programme in Abuja on Tuesday.
He said with no provision of subsidy in the 2021 budget, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) would not continue to bear the cost of under-recovery.
Currently, petrol sells between N160 and N165 per litre.
Sylva said while government’s revenue had improved by the rise in crude oil price, it cannot be fretted away in subsidy payment.
“Since we are optimising everything, NNPC needs to also think about the optimization of product cost because as we all know oil prices are where they are today, $60.
“As desirable as this is, this has serious consequences as well on product prices. So we want to take the pleasure and we should as a country, be ready to take the pain.
“Today the NNPC is taking a big hit from this. We all know that there is no provision in the budget for subsidy.
“So, somewhere down the line, I believe that the NNPC cannot continue to take this blow. There is no way because there is no provision for it.
“As a country, let us take the benefits of the higher crude oil prices and I hope we will also be ready to take a little pain on the side of higher product prices”, he stated.
