The managing director, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), Isiyaku Abdullahi, says the full deregulation of Nigeria’s downstream sector will save the country an estimated N12 trillion within the next four years.
Speaking at the ongoing 15th Oil Trading and Logistics (OTL) Africa Petroleum Downstream Week 2021, Abdullahi noted that the N12 trillion savings could be channelled to other critical areas such as infrastructure, health care and education.
He noted that the removal of subsidy would make the price of petroleum products in Nigeria at par with its African neighbours and discourage smuggling.
According to Abdullahi, with the signing of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the country is moving towards full deregulation of the downstream sector which will attract more investments.
Similarly, Adeyemi Adetunji, group executive director, Downstream, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, maintained that prices of petroleum products would be determined by the free market under the PIA.
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Adetunji said: “The PIA has provided an enabling environment to attract investment, ensure fair competition for operators and fair price for consumers and producers to ensure industry stability.
“The fuels market is expanding in view of the emerging gas opportunities. Investors and existing players should seize these opportunities to create value for all stakeholders.”
On his part, Muda Yusuf, a former director general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the government needed to demonstrate the political will to end the subsidy regime.
Yusuf, who is the chief executive officer of, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, said the inability to fully deregulate the sector was a major impediment to unlocking its huge investment potential in the past five decades.
However, Ogbonna, National Auditor, Trade Union Congress, said labour unions had given the government certain conditions that should be fulfilled before the removal of subsidy.
Ogbonna said: “What we are saying is that for there to be full deregulation, the government should provide palliatives to the masses and should ensure that there are no job losses in the implementation of the reforms in the sector.”
