*proposes 18-month extension for implementation of PIA
By Chesa Chesa
President Muhammadu Buhari has okayed the suspension of the contentious removal of petrol subsidy indefinitely.
The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, announced this to State House correspondents on Tuesday soon after he and officials of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) met with Buhari behind closed doors.
Sylva also announced that the Buhari will seek the National Assembly’s approval for an 18-month extension for the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) that was initially legislated to start this February. This will require an amendment of the Act.
President Buhari had on 16th August 2021 signed the Petroleum Industry Bill into law, and it was meant to come into fill force six months after.
While the suspension of removal of petroleum subsidy lasts, government will continue consultations with labour unions that have stridently opposed the plan, said the Minister.
Government would also continue to get the refineries working and to emplace palliatives for Nigerians to cushion the effect of the eventual removal of subsidies, Sylva stated.
Another measure to be taken before then will be the conversion of about one million vehicles to use autogas and the construction of autogas plants across the country to power the vehicles.
These conditions make it impossible to give an exact time when petrol subsidiary will now be removed, explained the Minister.
He also stressed that the National Assembly could still tinker with the 18-month proposal, so the decision on timing will no longer be the exclusive preserve of the presidency.
According to Sylva: “We don’t intend to remove subsidy now. That is why we are making this announcement.
“We also see the legal implication. There is six months provision in the PIA which will expire in February and that is why we are coming out to say that before the expiration of this time, we will engage the legislature.
“We believe that this will go to the legislature, we are applying for amendment of the law so that we would still be within the law.
“We are proposing an-18month extension but what the national Assembly is going to approve is up to them. We will approve an 18 months extension and then it is up to the National Assembly to look at it and pass the amendment as the see it.
“Somebody mentioned the possibility of gradual increase, that is not on the table as well. Gradual or increment in whatever guise is not on the table.
“We are going to see how to rejig the law, this is not going to be the only amendment to the PIA. A few months ago, the President already proposed an amendment to the law.”
On the fuel queues that resurged at petrol filling station in the past day, the Minister blamed it on panic hoarding and panic buying of petrol by station owners and consumers.
