As the Premium of Motor Spirit, more commonly known as gasoline, continued to be scarce on Sunday, oil marketers predicted that if the PMS subsidy is eliminated, the price of the good will exceed N800/litre.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited was burdened by the high cost of gasoline subsidies, according to industry insiders, and this contributed to the protracted crisis in the downstream oil sector. Only NNPC imports gasoline into Nigeria.
Zainab Ahmed, the minister of finance, budget, and national planning, recently proposed that the government gradually cease the subsidy on PMS while highlighting the fact that the budgeted allocation for the subsidy will expire in June.
But oil marketers told our correspondent that while it could be advisable to remove subsidy, Nigerians should know that the cost of petrol could cross N800/litre once the commodity was no longer subsidised.
They urged the Federal Government to ensure that all the necessary measures and infrastructure to ensure a less stressful subsidy removal regime were put in place before implementing the decision.
“If the government fails to take the appropriate measures, and they say they want to remove fuel subsidy, the situation will be worse than this, the masses will suffer. How can you remove subsidy and you don’t have this product (petrol),â€