President Muhammadu Buhari has said he would rather tackle the issue of corruption and lack of transparency in the sector than remove subsidy which he said may trigger inflation and price hike.
This transition committee set up by Buhari shortly after he was declared the winner of the March 28 presidential election advised him to end the fuel subsidy programme and privatise the nation’s four refineries.
But the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) warned against any move by the government to remove subsidy from petroleum products
Senate President, Bukola Saraki, had few weeks before his elevation to the number three spot, said that the country was losing a total of $2 billion to fake fuel subsidy operators, arguing that the fuel subsidy management in the country was a very big platform for fraud.
Saraki who bemoaned that the alleged fraud in the subsidy scheme has been allowed to continue unabated, urged ?.Buhari to completely remove the fuel subsidy and restore normalcy to the petroleum sector.
President Muhammadu Buhari said Monday in Abuja that his administration will handle the issue of subsidies on petroleum products with care.
Speaking after receiving a briefing from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other agencies in the oil sector, President Buhari said that he will carefully review all the submissions he had received on the need to remove the subsidies.
“I have received many literature on the need to remove subsidies, but much of it has no depth.
“When you touch the price of petroleum products, that has the effect of triggering price rises on transportation, food and rents. That is for those who earn salaries, but there are many who are jobless and will be affected by it,” the President noted.
President Buhari also said that the lack of security, sabotage, vandalism, corruption and mismanagement, not necessarily subsidies, are the most serious problems of Nigeria’s oil sector. He promised to deal decisively with all identified problems of the oil and gas sector.
“We have to go back to the good old days of transparency and accountability,” the President said .
President Buhari directed the NNPC to review existing agreements for the swapping of crude oil for refined products with a view to injecting more honesty and transparency into the process to reduce costs.