It is going to be highly suicidal to remove
petrol subsidy now and the advice by the Presidential Economic Advisory
Committee on subsidy removal is wrong, the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and
Natural Gas workers has said.
It was reported on Monday that the PEAC
advised President Muhammadu Buhari, to remove
subsidy on petrol and adopt a pricing regime that reflects the cost of the
commodity.
Reacting to the development, the General
Secretary, NUPENG, Olawale Afolabi, told our correspondent that implementing
the advice would spell doom for the poor masses considering the precarious
economic situation of Nigeria at present.
He said, “Within the current context of
hardship in the country, it is suicidal to remove subsidy now. It is highly
suicidal within the current situation.”
Afolabi said NUPENG had repeatedly told the
government that the full deregulation of the downstream oil industry was the
way to go, but this must not be based on petroleum product imports.
He said, “Deregulation is desirable in the
downstream sector but we cannot deregulate within the context of importation.
We have always been saying that domestic production is the way to go.
“So you cannot base our deregulation on the
importation of products. It is like selling our employment opportunities and
throwing away our resources. We’ve been telling government for years now, make
sure that domestic production and refining of the product is on, then you can
deregulate.”
On the benefits of deregulation, he said,
“It will engender increased business activities in the downstream sector but it
should not be based on importation of products. You should deregulate within
the context of local refining.”
When told that the refineries were not
working, Afolabi replied, “That means that the advice (of the PEAC) is wrong.
That means that the advice is not applicable now.
“And for emphasis, within the context of
the current hardship in the country you cannot remove subsidy at this period.”
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