The deregulation of the downstream of the petroleum industry presupposes the end of fuel subsidy and return to the era where retail prices of petroleum products are determined through the interplay of market forces.

But, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipreye Sylva, told Business/Economy Editor, Bassey Udo, that the government cannot abdicate the responsibility to protect consumers and allow marketers fix fuel prices.

So, the government has no option than to continue to play that role as a regulator, to protect the masses; to ensure the landing price of petrol and other products is not very different from the selling price.

So, the government is the regulator for the petroleum products sector through the PPPRA (Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency) to ensure the marketers and consumers are both protected.

With that advice, if the marketers begin to sell outside the price band, then there are sanctions by the appropriate government agencies, like DPR (Depa