Page 5 - DMEA Week 06 2023
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DMEA COMMENTARY DMEA
NNPCL push government will have more money to deploy to
Sylva has also spoken out about the importance the development of things that will be useful to
of overhauling the refining sector to provide a all of us as a country,” he said.
more sustainable solution to the issue of fuel sub- However, we have been here before and the
sidies which has plagued the Nigerian economy combination of popular revolt against dramati-
for years. cally higher pump prices and lobbying by power-
“As a country, it is a national consensus now ful oil marketing companies have made previous
that this subsidy is not sustainable; what is desir- efforts short-lived.
able is to ensure that petroleum price is market The launch of Dangote and the rehabilita-
driven and it will also drive investments from the tion of NNPCL’s wholly-owned assets, despite
private sector,” he said. likely spread over several years, present a fresh
He added that the government continuing opportunity for Nigeria to finally rid itself of
to provide subsidies would threaten the profit- subsidies while limiting the pain in the pockets
ability of functional refineries, urging the gov- of its people.
ernment to end subsidies altogether and instead After several years without processing crude,
spend the billions of dollars saved on infra- Nigeria’s NNPC Ltd said this week that the first
structure projects that would support the local of its four refineries is expected to come back on
economy.“Let us remove subsidy so that the stream during Q2.
Week 06 09•February•2023 www. NEWSBASE .com P5