A cross section of Nigerians at the weekend in Lagos, urged the federal government to come out and clear the air on the fuel subsidy policy.
Prominent Nigerians who spoke to LEADERSHIP at separate interviews differed on the way they perceived the policy.
Speaking on a national debate, the Chairman of Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Ogun State branch , Alhaji Dele Tajudeen, called on the federal government to tread cautiously in its implementation of the policy
He urged the government to ensure that all the country’s refineries were working at optimum capacity before removing the subsidy.
His words: “We have continued to talk about it for over ten years now without anything. This is because there is no sincerity of purpose on the part of the government. If you want to remove it and there is a genuine reason for it, then, go ahead and do it.
“We only hear it in the news and at the end of the day, probably a particular government is afraid of some people, maybe that is why the government has not been able to maintain a clear position. A lot of people have been asking me this question, why is the government creating fears in the mind of the people.
“What we are saying is that though the price of the product is less in this country, we are an oil-producing country for-crying-out-loud.
It should be less. Why are the refineries not working? When you bring crude oil from overseas or you take it to the other countries to refine, there is tendency of incurring more cost on transportation and insurance on the product is there.
“ So why can’t we fix our refineries and put all necessary things in place to justify the removal of the subsidy.
Let the refineries be alright, if Nigeria just discovered oil toady are we not going to have the refinery?
We have refineries that are not functioning. We have four but all of them are not working to the fullest capacity. Unless all these refineries are working, we will not be able to do something meaningful.”
For the Chief Executive Officer of Oando Plc, Mr. Wale Tinubu, there was nothing wrong in the removal of fuel subsidy.He argued it would accelerate national development.
According to him: “ The federal government is carrying a lot of burden by trying to subsidise petroleum products for everybody.
We are not going to be part of importation until government stops subsidy.”
He noted that the decision of the federal government to be spending money on subsidy could have severe consequences on the country’s economy, adding that about $8billion have been spent by the government this year .
Tinubu who noted that such whooping amount spent on subsidy could have been channeled into capital projects said there was urgent need to shift emphasis on gas as alternative to kerosene.
Lending his voice, the founder, Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders,( CACOL), Debo Adeniran, said the move by the government to increase fuel price was unwarranted.
According to him:
“Nigerians should rise up to the occasion and defend their rights and make the country ungovernable for those trying to destroy them,” he added.
Another notable human rights activist , the National President, Campaign for Democracy(CD) told our correspondent that “the move is wicked, callous and inhuman. Despite the resources we have in this country, it is so worrisome that the federal government wants to do this.”