The Tinubu-led administration has strongly refuted reports suggesting that it has reinstated the subsidy for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), commonly known as petrol.
Recent claims by oil marketers and some labor organizations alleged that the government had secretly reinstated the subsidy despite previous announcements of its removal, claiming that with the removal of the subsidy, fuel pump price stability, despite fluctuations, is unexplainable.
The National President of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) Festus Osifo in a recent interview with Channels TV said that the Federal Government is still paying subsidy on petroleum, in spite of President Bola Tinubu saying that subsidy era is gone. He said that the federal government is still paying subsidy for the product because of the cost of crude oil in the international market and the Dollar to Naira rate.
However, responding to journalists’ questions at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, after a meeting with President Tinubu, today October 9, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), Mele Kyari, said there is no fuel subsidy at all.
“I told you there’s no subsidy whatsoever, we are recovering our full cost from the products that we import. We sell to the market, we understand why the marketers are unable to import. We hope that they do this very quickly and these are some of the interventions the government is doing. There is no subsidy.” he said