Consider Bringing Back Fuel Subsidy – Group Urges Tinubu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been urged by a right organisation, ‘No Justice, No Peace Initiative’, to explore reintroducing fuel subsidy.

In a statement released by the group’s National Coordinator, Derrick Oritsematosan Agberen, on Tuesday, the group argued that the removal of fuel subsidy has not in any way benefited the masses, alleging that only government officials were benefiting from the gains of subsidy removal.

While noting that  fuel subsidy elimination, he said, was a positive move, he suggested that “it would have been complemented with local refining and supply of the products.”

Naija News reports that Agberen, who touched on how the value of the Naira has significantly declined in relation to the US dollar, advised that modular refineries are still a viable option since they require less capital and can be easily adjusted to meet changing market conditions.

He stated that since government-owned refineries are not operating, the President Tinubu-led Federal Government should think about licensing modular refineries with the ability to process crude oil.

He said, “We have had refineries but the Federal Government of Nigeria sees no reason why it should function, to refine her crude oil products.Despite the abundance of her mineral resources, Nigeria has lacked the capacity to meet the country’s demand for petroleum products locally and has resorted to their importation. How slowly we’ve walked, that her crude oil products are exported outside Nigeria to be refined, making the dollar stronger than the Naira, and then imported back. Corruption is a central player in all these.

“It can generate additional energy and shore up our GDP and forex reserves. This in turn will not only rise the Naira and reduce the cost of goods and services but will create employment and rural development in Nigeria. Not until these measures are considered and put to work, the demands of the dollar cannot be reduced.”