Petroleum Downstream Deregulation Will Ensure Products Availability – Maku

[Shola Sholaz]

The Federal Government, on Sunday, said the planned deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry was to ensure availability of products to Nigerians.
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The Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku, said this in Kaduna during an inspection tour of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (KRPC).
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Maku said deregulation was the best solution to problems in the sector.
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He added that middlemen and other players in the industry had taken advantage of government's monopoly in the industry to shortchange the country.
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Maku cited sale of kerosene as an example: "unless government deregulates this sector, middlemen will continue to feed fat on the sweat of the poor masses.''
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He said that deregulation would not only open up the market and give Nigerian kerosene consumers options to select from but would address the challenges created by middlemen.