Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, said Nigerians should be proud that the country is importing petrol from Niger Republic as a way of boosting intra-regional trade. He spoke as guest on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday evening.

Some Nigerians had expressed their displeasure at the MoU signed between Nigeria and Niger Republic, calling it an embarrassment. But the minister said he does not see the development as an embarrassment to Nigeria.

“I don’t see that as an embarrassment at all. As a country, Nigeria is a big market. We need products. Even if all our refineries are functioning, we will still need extra products.

“Niger Republic produces oil and they are landlocked as a country. They have a refinery that refines in excess of what they require.

“They offered to sell the excess to Nigeria because this is a bigger market. In the spirit of regional cooperation, regional trade, we decided to buy from them. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Recall that recently, the Nigerian government through the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Niger Republic for petroleum products importation.

A statement released by the ministry explained that Soraz Refinery in Zinder, Niger Republic, has an installed refining capacity of 20,000 barrels per day compared to the nation’s 5,000bpd domestic requirement. This leaves a surplus of 15,000 barrels per day which is what Nigeria wants to buy off them.

Sylva also disclosed that Nigerian Government is yet to completely stop subsiding petroleum products in the country, stressing that the subsidy is from the dollar end this time only handled by the NNPC which has access to dollars to effect importation of petroleum products.

“We are still trying to manage this bumpy start. We have not really been able to get to that 100 percent removal of subsidy from the foreign exchange end,” Sylva said.

“If we were to actually take it out completely and allow people to access foreign exchange from the parallel market and allow people to import the product, the price of the pump will even be more.

“The Federal Government, knowing the impact it will have on the people, decided that they are still going to manage this situation.”