The Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Mele Kyari, has backed President Bola Tinubu’s decision to end fuel subsidies.
After declaring during his inaugural speech that he would accept the previous administration’s suggestion in that regard, Tinubu intends to abolish fuel subsidies.
Given that fuel was only subsidized for the first six months of this year in the 2023 budget, Muhammadu Buhari has suggested that subsidies be phased down after the first half (H1) of 2023.
Tinubu echoed Buhari’s administration’s stance that fuel should no longer be subsidised beyond June 2023., and Kyari stated that the decision will affect the operation of NNPC positively.
NNPC will become a viable business entity should fuel subsidy be removed as assured by Tinubu, Kyari said during a briefing on Monday.
“We have been funding the subsidy from the cash flow of the NNPC since government is unable to defray the costs of subsidy that is due to the cooperation and we believe that this will free resources for the NNPC to continue to do the great work that this company will do for our country, and it allows us to continue to function as a very commercial entity that will work on this development,” Kyari said.
“We would like to assure Nigerians that we have sufficient supply of petroleum product, particularly premium motor spirit in our country. And there is no reason to panic.
“We understand people will be scared of potential changes to price of petrol, but that is not enough for people to rush to fuel stations to buy more than what they need,” Kyari stated