Former presidential spokesperson, Dr. Doyin Okupe, stated on Tuesday that he does not agree with Aliko Dangote’s call for the complete removal of fuel subsidies.
Okupe shared his opinion during an interview with NAN in Lagos.
According to reports, Dangote, owner of the 650,000 barrels-per-day Dangote Refinery, had urged the Nigerian government to fully eliminate the fuel subsidy in an interview with Bloomberg.
During the 26-minute interview in New York on Monday, Dangote argued that the time was right to end the subsidy, which he said has cost the country trillions of naira.
Reacting, Okupe said: “With utmost respect, I disagree with Aliko Dangote on his suggestion that the government should completely end subsidy now.
“Petrol is the economic oxygen of Nigerians, whether rich or poor. This is not the situation in other countries of the world.”
The former Director-General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign stated that with the emergence of local refineries, some relief should be provided to Nigerians.
He explained that with the allocation of 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day for domestic use, Nigeria can leverage both local production and consumption, allowing the country to set the price for selling crude to local refineries.
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“We can use opportunities that these local refineries avail us, ensuring adequate fuel supply with the dedicated or allocated daily crude oil for local consumption, which is outside OPEC quota.
“So, whatever we do with it is our internal affairs, it is a way of providing some level of comfort.
“We can sell this daily crude oil allocation for local consumption cheaply to determine the average pump price of PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) in the country.
“For instance, the price of Nigerian crude per barrel is $77, we can decide to sell to Dangote refinery at $35 or $37 per barrel, thereby having made adjustments of processing fees and profit margin, the pump price of petroleum can come down to N500 or N600 per litre.
“This will bring major relief, comfort and succour to the masses,” he said.
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