The Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Mele Kyari, on Thursday, held a closed-door meeting with the National Chairman of All Progressives Congress, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, at the party secretariat in Abuja.
He was received by the chairman and members of the National Working Committee after arriving at the party’s premises at about 12.30 pm.
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Channels Television gathered from some party sources that the meeting may not be unconnected with the removal of the petroleum subsidy, three days after President Bola Tinubu said the payment of the subsidy is over.
Addressing journalists after the meeting, the NNPCL boss said Nigeria could no longer afford the payment of subsidy.
“Of course, it is very obvious that we can no longer afford it. Subsidy bills have piled up. The country is not able to settle NNPC for the money we are spending on the subsidy. Therefore, pricing this petroleum at the market is the right thing to do at this time. We believed that this would benefit the overall country in the long run,” he stated.
“There is a gradual process now of making a flexible and single-effect regime. Everyone will be able to have access to foreign exchange and there is a transition going on now. And NNPC cannot continue to be the sole importer. We know that this is going to vanish, and the market will stabilize this.
“There is an ongoing process of rehabilitation and one of the refineries will come on stream this year. The second will come on stream next year and the third will come the 2025.”
