-O. Adejo
Chief Timipre Sylva, Minister of State Petroleum Resources, has stated that the Federal Government cannot intervene in the rising price of diesel and aviation fuel because the prices for both products are deregulated.
This was stated by Sylva yesterday in Abuja.
He explained that the foreign exchange rate affects the prices of both imported products.
“As a result, the government has no authority to set prices at all.” Of course, there is also the issue of foreign exchange. People do not have access to foreign currency to import this. For the time being, NNPC has been the primary importer of this product, but our goal is to democratise importation so that aviation fuel users can access foreign exchange and import this product themselves.
“There is no shortage of anything. It’s simply a global issue. You are aware that the situation in Ukraine and Russia has exacerbated the price rise; it is not limited to Nigeria. The high cost of diesel is due to the same reason, and because these are not subsidised commodities, but rather deregulated commodities, it is not within the purview of the government to intervene in the price,” Sylva explained.
The rising cost of diesel and petrol; Timipre Sylva explains