Nigeria: Petroleum Downstream Deregulation Reaffirmed
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 |
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The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, has
assured Nigerians that the National Assembly would ensure that the
Federal Government provided necessary palliative measures before the
deregulation of the oil sector.
Bankole told journalists at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos
before he departed for Abuja that the deregulation of the
downstream sector of the Nigerian oil industry would end the regime of
subsidies on petroleum products and save more than US$4 billion a year
spent on subsidies. "Whether we like it or not, there are some
challenges. There is the challenge of raising revenue for government,
which by extension, is for the country, to enable government to develop
its many projects,” he said.
According to the Speaker, the National Assembly will sit with labour,
the executive arm of government, minister of petroleum and civil
servants to discuss how best to reduce any hardships that the people
will suffer as a result of the exercise. "We will also call on other
stakeholders in the sector to work out a plan to make sure that things
go on well,’’ Bankole said.
Meanwhile, the long queues experienced in many petrol stations in Lagos
on Saturday have eased up as there was no announcement of any hike in
the price of petrol by the Nigerian government as anticipated by the
petrol dealers.
PetrolWorld 021109
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