Key highlights
- Chairman of the House Committee on Upstream Petroleum, Hon. Musa Sarkin Adar has said President Buhari should be patriotic enough to remove fuel subsidies before his tenure comes to an end in the next 61 days
- According to Hon. Adar Nigeria’s lack of refining capacity has further complicated the fuel subsidy challenge in the country and if there was local refining capacity, there wouldn’t be a need for fuel subsidy payments
- Hon. Adar appeals to Nigerians to make the sacrifice to buy fuel at increased prices after the subsidy is removed, so the country can begin to move in the right direction.
The Chairman of the House Committee on Upstream Petroleum in Nigeria’s House of Representatives, Musa Sarkin Adar has advised President Buhari to use fuel subsidy as a parting gift to Nigerians and the incoming administration of President-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He said this during an interview on Wednesday, March 29 via Arise TV.
According to Hon. Adar, the fuel subsidy removal issue has been a lingering one which was not caused by Buhari, or the incoming President Tinubu and Nigerians need to adjust to the new realities. He said:
- “The current government of President Muhammadu Buhari should be patriotic enough to remove the fuel subsidy before it finishes in the next 61 days, that will help greatly. Whoever is trying to politicize the issue of fuel subsidy or waiting to ambush President-elect Tinubu is wasting his time. Tinubu will handle fuel subsidy removal in a manner that the desired result will be achieved.
- “On the issue of parity of prices, these are the opinions given by operators like the NNPC. Marketers are saying that their prices should be higher, but everybody should be patriotic, honest, and sympathetic to Nigerians. It is not an issue of N500 or N700 per liter of fuel, it is about the devaluation of the Naira. The issue of fuel subsidy is not a Nigerian factor. I have said it and many experts have said it equally, it is a global factor.
- “Although Nigeria has oil deposits that we explore and export, unfortunately, we do not have the means to refine them for our local consumption. The fuel subsidy relies heavily on petroleum-finished products. If we are refining in this country, there won’t be an issue of fuel subsidy, products will be sold based on what is refined.
- “It is not the Buhari administration or even the incoming Tinubu administration that caused this problem, it was caused by past administrations. Here we are with gigantic refineries that are moribund, despite the millions spent on their turnaround maintenance by successive regimes since 1977.”
Nigerians need to adjust to fuel subsidy removal: According to Hon. Adar, agrarian communities in his constituency in Sokoto state, are reliant on fuel to power irrigation systems for their farms, and they must travel for up to 40 kilometers to buy fuel at N1000 per liter sometimes and they have no choice but to buy because of the investments made on their farms. He stated further that Nigerians should be able to make that sacrifice and cope with increased fuel prices after the subsidy is removed because the lingering problem comes at a huge cost which is affecting the country negatively.
The optics: Fuel subsidy removal is a hot topic in Nigeria right now as the Buhari administration draws to a close and President-elect Tinubu has expressed his intention to adopt social welfare programs to ease the economic burden of Nigerians after the fuel subsidy removal. The World Bank had previously argued that fuel subsidies benefit the rich more than the poor. Meanwhile, some analysts argue that removing it would result in an increase in the price of fuel, which would hurt the poor. The decision to remove or maintain the fuel subsidy in Nigeria is ultimately a political one that requires careful consideration of various factors, including economic impact and social welfare.
