According to government sources, the alleged fuel subsidy removal by the Federal Government will cause NNPC petrol prices to rise to N110 per litre.
The sources, who pleaded anonymity, said the government resorted to that drastic decision to end the vicious cycle of fuel scarcity crises and avoid subsidy payments.
They also revealed that the government was on the verge of discreetly giving permission to petroleum products marketers to gradually adjust their pump prices as early as midweek to signal the formal take-off of deregulation in the country
Although NNPC spokesperson, Garbadeen Mohammed, said reports of the planned introduction of deregulation by government were new to him, Premium Times reports that the deregulation of the downstream sector of the Nigerian petroleum industry is definitely forthcoming.
The General Secretary of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Peter Ozo-Eson, also said he could confirm nothing about the issue, but Insiders well briefed on the matter said top level secret meetings had been going on all week to weigh the security implications of the possible fallouts of the policy
It remains to be seen whether or not there will be a possible backlash reminiscent of the reaction by Nigerians in January 2012 when former President Goodluck Jonathan attempted to introduce a similar measure,