Despite the recent reduction in the pump price of petrol from N97 to N87 per litre, the Federal Government has said it will still pay subsidy on the product for the next 40 days.
“Bear in mind that we will still be covering subsidy cost for at least 40 days for those marketers who had already brought in stock, there should be no issue with distributing the product at the lower price,” the minister said.
The government explained that fuel consumed in Nigeria was “heavily subsidised” before the global crunch in crude oil prices, adding that it would take some time before subsidy on the product would stop.
The Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, while explaining why the pump price of fuel in Nigeria did not reduce as soon as global crude oil prices plummeted, said Nigeria was importing against the global import prices for crude.