The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva on Monday, January 9, stated that it is fair to buy a litre of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly called petrol at N300 per litre.
Sylvia spoke in Abuja while presenting President Muhammadu Buhari’s scorecard in the petroleum sector under the media series organised by the ministry of information and culture.
Reports stated that the product was already selling in parts of Nigeria at prices ranging from N179 to over N400 per litre depending on the location.
The minister was answering a question about whether or not he would be comfortable buying at N300 per litre if he became a private citizen just like most Nigerians.
He said:
“If you ask me how I will feel as a private citizen to buy petroleum products at N300 per litre, frankly, if you as me, I will say I won’t feel bad knowing the actual situation.
“And if you compare Nigeria to other countries and you would also understand and you also convert N300 that you are talking about to other currencies, then, you would probably understand.
“You know a lot of you travel to the United Kingdom, a lot of you travel to the US. How much do you buy petroleum products? Even in Saudi Arabia and in Arab communities that produce crude oil.
“Convert it to what we are buy in Nigeria in terms of naira, you will find out that we are not really doing too badly.
“But unfortunately, we are still in a subsidized regime which all of us know and we have come to a national consensus now that this subsidy is not sustainable. But we will get there. Together, we will get there.”
