The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, says the Federal Government is determined to remove subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit, commonly known as petrol.

She also said a panel chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo would meet with the Nigeria Labour Congress and other stakeholders to consider the proposed N5,000 transport palliative and other options aimed at ameliorating the effects of the planned subsidy removal on Nigerians.

Responding to questions by journalists at the public presentation of the 2022 budget on Wednesday, Ahmed said the Federal Government was set to comply with the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 to fully deregulate prices of petroleum products.

She said, “The PIA 2021 has made a provision that indicates that all by-products’ prices will be deregulated, and so far we have been able to deregulate kerosene prices and diesel prices.

“The only product that is still not deregulated is PMS, so we are planning to comply with the law because the PIA is an Act of the National Assembly and a law that we all have a responsibility to abide by. On the proposed N5, 000 transport grant, the minister said the initiative was still at the proposal stage.