SUBSIDY TO STAY IN 2013 - JONATHAN

 

PRESIDENT GOODLUCK Jonathan on Sunday assured Nigerians that the subsidy on petroleum would stay in 2013.However, the President was silent on whether there would be an increase in the pump price of petrol or not. Reports indicate that the president’s assurance does not preclude an increase in fuel price. He adds that the President’s promise will remain valid even if the fuel price is hiked and government doesn’t fully remove subsidy.Click on
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“If we are going to remove subsidy from January, as you are afraid we will do in January, we couldn’t have made provisions for it in the 2013 budget. We have made provisions from January till December,” Jonathan said during the Presidential Media Chat aired live on network television and radio.

Fielding questions from a panel of interviewers, the President dwelt on a range of burning national issues including the convocation of a Sovereign national Conference, the 2015 election, and constitution amendment.

He said he was misunderstood when he said last Thursday that subsidy must go for development to take place in the oil sector.

“Why is it that people are not building refineries in Nigeria despite that it is a big business? It is because of the policy of subsidy, and that is why we want to get out of it,” the President had said while receiving the report of the graduating participants of the Senior Executive Course 34, 2012, of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, near Jos, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

But the President said on Sunday that he did not say the country was deregulating its oil sector. ‘‘I did not say we are deregulating. But all what we are saying is that if we are to get to that level of Canada, the policy that existed in January, which is public-private sector driven, we have to adopt that in Nigeria,” he said.

On the shortage of fuel and the return of queues at filling stations, the President said Nigerians should bear with his government.

He said, “This situation can manifest in different areas, some people may have the product and decide to manipulate the system so that they can get more money.

“I am asking Nigerians to bear with us. I got the report from the ( Aig) Imokhuede committee on Friday, an advanced copy of the report. The arguments by the marketers is that it is government that is owing them. (But) the preliminary report we have indicates that they owe the government.''