TheCable

The federal government has forewarned Nigerians to get ready to bear the pains of increased petrol pump price as crude oil prices climbs above $60 per barrel.

Timipre Sylva, minister of state for petroleum resources, said this on Tuesday, at an official launch of the Nigerian upstream cost optimisation program.

On Monday, TheCable reported that analysts and market watchers are anticipating an increase in the retail price of petrol in fuel stations across Nigeria as the process of crude oil on the global market crossed $60 per barrel.

Sylva said with no provision of subsidy in the 2021 budget, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) cannot continue to bear the cost of under-recovery.

He said while the federal government revenue has improved by the rise in crude oil price, it cannot be fretted away in subsidy payment.

“Since we are optimizing everything, NNPC needs to also think about the optimization of product cost because as we all know oil prices are where they are today at $60,” Sylva said.

“As desirable as this is, this has serious consequences as well on product prices. So we want to take the pleasure and we should as a country be ready to take the pain.

“Today the NNPC is taking a big hit from this. We all know that there is no provision in the budget for subsidy.

“So, somewhere down the line, I believe that the NNPC cannot continue to take this blow. There is no way because there is no provision for it.

“As a country, let us take the benefits of the higher crude oil prices and I hope we will also be ready to take a little pain on the side of higher product prices.”

Currently, petrol is being sold at a range of N160-N165 per litre in many filling stations across Nigeria, however, this price was set when crude oil traded just above $43 per barrel four months ago.