Nigeria's groups for oil and gas industry demand framework for fuel subsidy removal

Nigeria's civil society groups advocating for the reform of the country's oil and gas industry have demanded the government of Nigeria to provide a detailed framework for its decisions to end fuel subsidy in the country and the planned oil and gas licensing round, according to a news report by Premium Times.

The groups under the aegis of the Centre for Transparency Advocacy have said that the framework will show the technical details of the approach government will adopt.

The framework will also state the roles and responsibilities of the different interest groups and agencies of government involved in the petroleum products supply and distribution, to ensure transparency and accountability in the use of the proceeds from the subsidy removal for the benefit of the people.

The group said that it commends the government for this decision and pledge to support the process to realize the national objective.

"We believe the framework will spell out the roles and the limit of the responsibilities for agencies like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to make the policy a reality," the group said.

They noted that the recent decision by the NNPC to adjust downwards the price of petrol from N145 per liter to N125 and N123.50, the groups said Nigerians are not yet aware of any clearly defined mechanism on how these adjustments were done and how the new prices were arrived at.

"If by tomorrow, fuel price rises above the previous N145 per liter level, there is no word from the government what would happen then - whether fuel subsidy will come back or not, or other issues capable of causing the reversal of the subsidy removal regime." the group noted.