In spite of nationwide rejection, Nigeria’s National Economic Council (NEC) has come out in support of the deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
Rising from its first meeting in the year which was presided over by Acting President Goodluck Jonathan, the Council called for immediate settlement of the outstanding issues delaying the implementation of the deregulation policy.
Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State said a situation where the government subsidizes a liter of petrol was unacceptable.
“The consensus is that deregulation has become inevitable and the meeting decided that all the outstanding issues should be resolved and whatever else that needed to be done should be done.
“The Council decided that we should make it as fast and simple as possible so that we can get on with the process,” he said.
Speaking on the same vein, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State said the huge sums spent on deregulation ended up in the pockets of few Nigerians.
Meanwhile, speaking on preparations for the 50th anniversary celebrations of Nigeria’s independence, uduaghan said a planning committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed, had been set up.
“It is going to be a big celebration that the whole country will be involved in, and the center will be in the FCT (Federal Capital Territory) while there will be activities across the country on both land and water,” he said.
NEC, the highest economic decision-making body in the nation, statutorily comprises of the Vice President as the Chairman, the 36 governors and the Minister of the FCT.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
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