Buhari will soon take action on cooking gas price hike, says Sylva

Minister of state for petroleum resources, Timipre Sylva, says President Muhammadu Buhari has promised to take action on the current high cooking gas prices as the Yuletide season draws near. He said the president is aware and concerned about Nigeria’s cooking gas price hike. Sylva said this on Tuesday while speaking with state house correspondents after a meeting with the president at the presidential villa, Abuja. At the meeting, he presented Gbenga Komolafe, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC) and Farouk Ahmed, CEO of the Nigerian Downstream and Midstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), to the president The minister explained that the government has no control of the prices, saying it is the international market that primarily determines the price of the commodity. Sylva, however, assured Nigerians that some elements of the pricing would be adjusted internally to enable a reduction. “We must understand that cooking gas is not subsidised. It is already a deregulated commodity so the price is not determined by the government or anybody here in Nigeria. In fact, gas prices are determined internationally,” Sylva said. “The price of gas internationally now affects the price of gas in our country. “But there are some issues around value-added Tax (VAT) charges and other taxes on imported gas, which we are handling. “But, I want to assure you that we are quite concerned and the president also is very concerned; he is aware that the price of gas is high in the market and we are doing everything to see how we can bring down the price of gas, especially as the yuletide approaches.”