Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, yesterday assured that Nigerians will get used to the deregulation of the pump price of petroleum product just as they have become in the case of kerosene and diesel.
The Minister also said that the earnings of government has reduced by 60 percent including the resources generated by the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, thereby pushing the nation’s economy under serious pressure.
Speaking to State House correspondents after his routine briefing of President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Chief Sylva said diesel and kerosene were even more important to the ordinary citizens than petrol, which he said was mostly used by the elite.
He explained that trucks that move food produce from one part of the country to another use diesel while kerosene also used by most of the Nigerian masses has since been deregulated.
According to him, “Look at it, a situation where diesel has been deregulated long ago, a situation where kerosene has been deregulated long ago, and these are the fuels the poorest people in Nigeria interact with more. Why do I say that?
“If you want to transport food from the north to the south, it will be by trucks that are run by diesel, not with petrol. Those trucks that transport food from the north to the south are usually run by diesel.
“Kerosene is the preferred fuel at the lowest level of our society. These have been deregulated long ago. So, what is the problem with deregulating petrol, which is mostly used by the elite?
“Let us be fair to this country, let us be fair to the poor people in this country.
“If we have deregulated what they were using, then there is actually no reason why we should continue to subsidize petrol. I feel so. That’s my personal feeling.”
