MALAM Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, has said that subsidy would have been eliminated in 2020 but certain factors prevented it.
He, however, said that the law provides that by the end of February 2022, the nation should be out of the subsidy regime. He said this at the presentation of the World Bank Nigeria Development Update, November 2021 edition titled “Time for Business Unusual”. “There will be no provision for it legally in our system, but I am also sure you will appreciate that government has a bigger social responsibility to cater for the ordinary and therefore engage in a process that will ensure that we exit in the most subtle and easy manner.”
Kyari assured that fuel subsidy removal would definitely be achieved in 2022 as it was now fully backed by law, adding that the price of the product may range between N320 and N340 per litre. On the hike in prices of cooking gas, he said that it was a demand and supply issue as there was a global crunch on supply of gas and many countries were now threatened by lack of supply in December.
He added that the product was not under any subsidy regime and therefore irrespective of where it was produced, would follow the global trend. Kyari, however, assured that the company was working on increasing local production to meet the needs of consumers.
