Nigeria’s Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, has said that the fuel subsidy regime will stay for the time being because the government is being considerate of citizens.
The Minister who spoke in an interview with Channels Television yesterday, noted that the government has not set any date yet for subsidy removal.
“I cannot give you a date for now. But the Vice President is actually leading the efforts and very soon, we will tell Nigerians what date the removal of subsidy will kick in,” he said.
Sylva explained that the government is making efforts to put structures in place to cushion the effect of the eventual subsidy removal.
“We must be considerate of our people; you cannot say because you have the muscle, box everybody down in the room. So, what we are saying is that before doing this, we need to put some structures in place so that the impact on the people can be minimized. We are trying to create an alternative that is cheaper and more affordable.
“We also think that there should be some palliatives,” the minister added.
