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Tag: Mr. Timipre Sylva

Sylva Emerges APC Governorship Candidate In Bayelsa
The immediate past Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, and former governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Timipre Sylva has won the All Progressives Congress, APC, gubernatorial primaries in a landslide, defeating the 2019 governor-elect, Chief David Pereworimini Lyon and four others.
The APC gubernatorial primaries were conducted in all 105 wards in the state on Friday, using the direct primary mode.
Announcing the results at the state APC secretariat on Saturday, the chairman of the APC Primary Election Committee and Returning Officer, Maj. Gen. A. T. Jibrin, retd, said Sylva polled a total of 52,061 votes to emerge, the winner, while an ex-agitator, Chief Joshua Maciver came a distant second with 2,078 votes, with the former Governor elect Chief David Lyon, coming third with 1,582 votes.
April 15, 2023
2023: Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva Joins Presidential Race
A group of Northern Solidarity Group for Timipre Sylva, yesterday, purchased a N100 million nomination form for the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva.
The spokesperson of the group, Suleiman Abdullahi, while presenting the form to Sylva on Monday in Abuja, said they purchased the form for him because they believed in his capacity and capability.
According to him, “Nigerians can see from his antecedent from the State to the federal level that he has garnered necessary experience and is well accepted across the country. So, we know that his chances of winning the APC ticket is brighter.”
Responding, Sylva said he was honoured and humbled for the show of love, saying it showed commitment not to him, but to Nigeria.
He said: “I have tried my best since I was appointed by Mr. President to this office to do my service to Nigeria. But to realise that my efforts have been noticed by you Nigerians and that you Nigerians by yourself will go and take the trouble of obtaining the nomination and the expression of interest forms for me is very humbling. And I must also say it was very shocking at the same time.
“But I’m very happy and pleased by this gesture. So what I will do now, I will not give you a straight answer right now. But I’m really thankful for what you have done because I need to consult. I need to consult my constituency and consult leaders of this country and then I’ll come back to you to let you know if I have taken the position also to run for this office. I thank you very much.
“So you’ll give me a very short time. I will start right away with the consultation. I will go to my leader, for example the Ijaw Leader, Sir SK Clark, I will talk to him. I will also consult other leaders of the country and I will get back to you.”
May 10, 2022
Buhari Not In Support Of Fuel Subsidy Removal – Petroleum Minister
The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, says President Muhammadu Buhari is not in support of the removal of subsidy on the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), popularly known as petrol.
Rather, he explained that the Federal Government planned to complete consultations before coming out with a clear policy direction on the matter.
“I will tell you categorically that at this moment, the complete removal of subsidy is not on our plate at all,” said Sylva during this week’s edition of Channels Television’s Newsnight.
“The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not in support of removing subsidy at this time,” he said.
The Minister of Finance, Budget, and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, had in November last year hinted that Nigeria would effect the complete removal of fuel subsidy in June 2022 and replace them with a N5000-a-month transportation grant to the poorest Nigerians.
Amid mixed reactions over the issue, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, last Tuesday said President Buhari never directed the removal of fuel subsidy.
NOTE: Watch Newsnight on Channels TV at 9pm on Monday.
Sylva, on his part, explained that the President’s position in opposing fuel subsidy was predicated on its effect on citizens at the bottom of the pyramid.
He also identified some of the options the authorities were considering regarding the issue.
“We are working out the processes,” said the minister. “Of course, we all know that it is a desirable policy direction. Of course, we know that it will have some impacts on the people and that is why we are trying to work out some of those things.
“Until those details are worked out properly with (the organised) labour, and with all the stakeholders in the sector, we will not remove the subsidy. At this moment, it is not on our plate, I can tell you that.
“This is something that needs to be worked out between the Federal Government and the states because this is a federation issue. We are working with the governors to see how we can continue with this policy direction of subsidising fuel for the foreseeable future.”
January 24, 2022
NNPC Limited To Kick Off In Six Months – Sylva
The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) will become a commercial company within six months, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva said on Tuesday.
This follows the signing of the Petroleum Industry Bill into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday.
Mr Sylva, who was speaking at a press conference in Abuja, said a transitional committee is already in place to incorporate NNPC Limited.
All shares in NNPC Limited are expected to be vested in the government at incorporation and held by the Ministry of Finance.
Mr Sylva noted that although the new petroleum act has deregulated the oil sector, subsidy policies will remain in place till further notice.
He said an implementation framework for actual deregulation will be established to mitigate the impact on ordinary Nigerians.
August 17, 2021
Full deregulation of petrol price coming – FG
Petrol pricing will be fully deregulated before end of this year, Minister of State (Petroleum) Timipre Sylva said yesterday.
He spoke amid controversy over whether a new price template of N206 per litre from N162 – N163 for March is about to be introduced.
The minister spoke at the University of Ibadan during the opening of the 56th Annual International Conference and Exhibition of the Nigeria Mining and Geoscience Society (NMGS).
Sylva said: “We have been talking about deregulation for decades. Unfortunately, we have not succeeded. We have succeeded in deregulating some products.
“Kerosene has been fully deregulated; diesel has been fully deregulated. But deregulation of PMS (petrol) has continued to elude us. We expect that this year, we will be able to achieve that.
“But, before we do that, we want to apply the principle of tolling the roads. Before you toll a road, you are expected to give an alternative.
“So, what we want to do for Nigerians is to give a credible and cheaper fuel as an alternative before we fully deregulate and we believe we will be able to achieve this later this year.
“And this, of course, is going to be a responsible way of also maintaining our environment.”
There were indications yesterday that the Federal Government, the Nigeria Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress will meet for talks after the Easter break.
Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige, said the government had not tabled any pump price before the Labour, contrary to the claim that the government proposed a pump price of about N202 per litre to N206 per litre, which Labour rejected by insisting on N168 per litre.
It was learnt that the last time the two sides met, it was the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari, who presented some market indices to Labour.
Kyari was said to have put the landing cost at N202 per litre confirming speculations that the fuel price increase was inevitable.
A labour source said: “We are standing by our position that there is no need for fuel price increase. But the government and Labour will resume talks immediately after the Easter break.
“We want the pump price to be N168 per litre. We were able to prove our point about three weeks ago when we suggested alternatives to the government team, which was led by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha.
“We presented some cost cutting measures to the government which will make N168 per litre realistic. We have rejected N202 or N206 per litre. We are waiting for the resumption of talks after the Easter break.”
Dr. Chris Ngige said last night: “We agreed to resume talks after the Easter break about one month ago when we met.
“We have not given them any figure of pump price. They are however aware of the landing cost of the Premium Motor Spirit as presented by the NNPC.”
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), at midnight last Thursday, published a new price regime for Premium Motor Spirit.
It said with the new template, fuel was expected to sell at N209.61 and at an upper retail price of N212.61. But it pulled down the new template after an outcry.
March 17, 2021
How we shelved NLC/TUC strike— FG
The Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Mr. Timipre Sylva, has explained how the federal government resolved with the organised Labour to shelve strike actions.
Sylva said the Federal Government had no money to continue with subsidy as earnings had dropped by 60%.
The minister spoke on Channels TV’s Sunrise Daily on Tuesday, pointing out that all well-meaning Nigerians agree with Government’s position on the need for the hike in pump price to subsist.
While answering a question on how some Nigerians felt disappointed that the new pump price remained, Sylva said: “I am sorry that some people are disappointed. But in the end, it is about Nigeria and not about those people. “What was the interest of such people to see the country go up in flames? But I applaud the labour leaders who put Nigeria first on that negotiation table.
“First, we had to be very truthful about the situation in the country, and globally. Government could no longer go on with subsidy because there simply was no money.
“If your earnings have dropped by 60%, then you have to do something about it. We showed them everything and they saw with us that it was not possible for us to continue.
“The alternative was to go back to subsidy and have scarcity. If the product is imported at a certain price and sold at a loss, it means somebody was bearing that difference. It was becoming unbearable to us.
“Price and production went down: we are producing half of what we used to produce and selling at less the price.
“Labour saw the truthfulness on the part of govt. It was a very painful decision. But there was no alternative. So we have to bite the bullet as a country.”
Recall that the Labour unions suspended the strike on Monday, September 28.
September 29, 2020