The Federal
Government has said that the novel price modulation mechanism currently in
place will ensure that it records zero expenses on fuel subsidy in 2016.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachickwu,
said this last week, at the 45th Convocation Lecture of the University of
Nigerian Nsukka, Enugu State. He spoke under the theme: The Petroleum Industry
and the Future of the Nigerian National-Oil Resource Management and the
Implication for National Security & Economic Survival.
Kachikwu said the zero fuel subsidy
will be sustained based on prevailing modified pricing template for petroleum
products, which has eliminated extraneous cost elements. According to him,
“Without necessarily removing subsidy the government will spend zero amounts in
subsidy in 2016. This may sound unbelievable to some people but that is part of
the change agenda of the present administration of President Mohammadu Buhari.”
He also disclosed that large chunks of vandalised pipelines are being recovered
which will supply more crude to the refineries.
