GIFT ROBERTS
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva said on Tuesday that the price of petrol would be fully deregulated before the end of this year.
The comment comes on the heels of the debate on whether a new price template of N206 per litre of petrol from N162 – N163, is about to be introduced by the Federal Government.
But speaking at the University of Ibadan during the opening of the 56th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of Nigeria Mining and Geoscience Society, Sylva said: “We have been talking about deregulation for decades. Unfortunately, we have not succeeded. We have succeeded in deregulating some products.
“Kerosene has been fully deregulated; diesel has been fully deregulated. But deregulation of PMS (petrol) has continued to elude us. We expect that this year, we will be able to achieve that.
“But, before we do that, we want to apply the principle of tolling the roads. Before you toll a road, you are expected to give an alternative. So, what we want to do for Nigerians is to give a credible and cheaper fuel as an alternative before we fully deregulate and we believe we will be able to achieve this later this year.
“And this, of course, is going to be a responsible way of also maintaining our environment.”