By Moses Akaigwe
THE withdrawal of subsidy on fuel and the recent announcement of a new pump price for the premium motor spirit by the Federal Government have been hailed by the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON) which said the decisions would have positive impact on the availability of the products to end users.
Reacting to efforts by government to address the unending problem of scarcity, the President of ALBON, Sir Dan Okemuo, disclosed that members are of the view that the removal of fuel subsidy would also result in massive private sector investment in the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.
“It is self-evident that no private investor would invest huge sum of money in a sector that is heavily and rigidly regulated by the government”, Okemuo argued. The association, however, appealed to government to plough the savings from the subsidy removal into the maintenance and rehabilitation of major highways across the country.
While announcing government’s latest move to address the problem of availability of fuel in the country, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had disclosed that any Nigerian entity could now import PMS, subject to existing quality specifications and other guidelines issued by regulatory agencies.
Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, said all oil marketers would be allowed to import petroleum on the basis of foreign exchange procured from secondary sources.