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The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, has defended the Federal Government’s removal of the petrol subsidy, saying the policy prevented Nigeria from facing an economic situation similar to Venezuela.
Speaking on Channels Television’s Politics Today, Lokpobiri said the decision taken by President Bola Tinubu at the start of his administration was necessary to protect the country’s finances.
The minister made the remarks while defending the subsidy removal policy and its impact on Nigeria’s economy.
“This decision was made at the right time and if it wasn’t made then, Nigeria would have been like Venezuela,” Lokpobiri said.
President Tinubu announced the end of the petrol subsidy during his inauguration on May 29, 2023, triggering a sharp increase in petrol prices as the government stopped absorbing part of the cost of the product.
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Lokpobiri argued that maintaining the subsidy would have placed an unsustainable financial burden on the government.
He said the policy had consumed significant public resources and that ending it had enabled the government to redirect funds towards other areas of the economy.
The minister also linked the subsidy debate to the current pressure on petrol prices, saying Nigeria operates a deregulated downstream petroleum sector in which market forces determine the price of refined products.
He has maintained that the international nature of the oil market means Nigeria cannot independently dictate petrol prices without returning to a subsidy regime.
