Nigeria to unveil new policy on fuel subsidy: official

The Nigerian government would in the next few days unveil new policy to address the problem of fuel subsidy in the country, an official said Tuesday.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachickwu, who stated this during a town hall meeting in northern Kaduna city, said the introduction of price modulation had helped to stabilize the problem.

The minister said it was necessary for the country's oil sector to reflect global pricing of the product.

According to him, the state run oil company did not have the logistics and coverage for effective distribution of the product.

The minister said there was no budgetary allocation for fuel subsidy in the 2016 budget.

On oil exploration in Northern Nigeria, the minister said the government had invited investors to explore for oil in the region.

According to Kachickwu, research conducted in the last six months revealed that there is both oil and gas in the North.

"We are putting a lot of investment and we are inviting people to invest money. We have set up a department which is doing three things for the North," he said.

"We are focusing on clean energy. we should be able to provide sufficient solar energy in the Northern part of this country," Kachickwu added. Endit