President Muhammadu Buhari has again defended the deregulation of the oil sector which led to hike in price of premium motor spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol and electricity tariff in the country.
He said this during the presentation of the proposed 2021 Budget of N13 trillion to the National Assembly on Thursday.
Before the decision to finally deregulate the sector, petrol was selling for N143. But with the deregulation, the price shot up to N160 minimum, leading to a strike threat by organised labour.
According to the president: “The government is already implementing several measures to overcome our fiscal constraints. In addition to the Strategic Revenue Growth Initiatives, we are leveraging technology and automation, as well as more effective monitoring of Independently Generated Revenues. Our efforts are aimed at addressing revenue leakages and redirecting scarce resources to the poor and vulnerable.
“These efforts include deregulation of the price of petroleum products, ongoing verification exercise with IPPIS and implementation of service-based electricity tariffs.
“The new petrol pricing regime has freed up resources that was allocated to subsidise petroleum products.
“Similarly, the ongoing IPPIS verification exercise has closed gaps that encourage ghost workers or pensioners.
“The service reflective electricity tariffs will help resolve liquidity crisis in the power sector and make the sector attractive to foreign investment.
“These reforms have released trillions of Naira for allocation to other priority areas,” he said.