Tougher days ahead as governors pull subsidy plug • Poverty, inflation to worsen in coming months Tougher times are here and any pretension to the contrary has been ripped to shreds with Wednesday’s resolution of the governors giving full backing to complete deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry, which in effect may jerk the pump price of petrol to N385 per litre. The masses will face more challenging times in the coming months as government closes in on resolving the lingering downstream market deregulation crisis. Attempts to remove subsidy on the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) had severally been stalled with the government and organised labour locked in endless negotiation. But on Wednesday night, the cash-starved governors recommended the immediate removal of petrol subsidy and proposed an over 130 per cent pump price increase, from N162 per litre to between N380 and N408.5. Stakeholders have raised questions on how the governors arrived at their decisi...