CSO asks FG to fix refineries, says ‘petrol subsidy bill growing faster than economy’

Civil Society Groups for Good Governance (CSGGG) has asked the federal government to fix the country’s refineries before removing subsidy on petrol.

The government had planned to stop subsidy payments on petroleum products from July 2022 in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA).

It, however, postponed the removal till further notice due to “high inflation and economic hardship”.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday in Abuja, Ogakwu Dominic, CSGGG president, said his organisation supports the removal of petrol subsidy because the bill is “growing faster and bigger than what our country’s economy can carry”.

“A key area of concern is Nigeria’s fuel subsidy bill which is growing faster and bigger than what our country’s economy can carry. If you will all recall, it was stated recently that the country needs to spend a princely N3 trillion on subsidies in 2022,” Dominic said.

“In the light of this humongous sum, we join well-meaning Nigerians in calling on the federal government to speed up the rehabilitation of the refineries to improve the availability of products locally and reduce importation.

“It is also important that the federal government also ensures that the right policies are in place to improve the country’s domestic refining capacity to meet local demand before subsidy removal is implemented.

“Let none of us be told otherwise that there is no subsidy. If there was none, organised labour would not threaten fire and brimstone whenever the government takes the bold step to remove under-recovery of premium motor spirit.”

The CSGGG president said Nigeria’s cheap petrol is the reason why smugglers take products to neighbouring countries to make huge profits.

“One urgent measure that needs to be addressed is our country’s borders which have remained largely porous,” he said.

“Without a doubt, some unpatriotic elements are cashing on this gap to divert and smuggle our subsidy-coated fuel to neighbouring countries.

“This ugly trade is putting an unnecessary burden on the government’s scarce resources. It is still unbelievable that we are consuming over 65 million litres of petrol every day.

“Only the existence of subsidies can explain this. Nigeria has one of the cheapest petrol per litre in the entire West African sub-region. Our cheaper fuel is very attractive to smugglers and something drastic needs to be done to address this ugly trend and hopefully crash the PMS consumed daily, hence a cost reduction of subsidy claims.”