Former presidential spokesperson, Dr. Doyin Okupe, has said he is not in support of a complete removal of fuel subsidy, News About Nigeria reports.
He stated this while speaking in an interview on Tuesday.
Okupe noted that he is not in agreement with the call by business magnate, Alhaji Aliko Dangote for the complete removal of subsidy.
Recall that Aliko Dangote, owner of the crude oil refinery in Lagos, had urged the Federal Government to end fuel subsidy completely in an interview with Bloomberg.
Speaking during the interview in New York on Monday, Dangote stated that the time was right to end subsidy, which, he said, had cost the country trillions of naira.
Reacting to this, Okupe stated that petrol is the economic oxygen of Nigerians, as opposed to other countries in the world.
The former Director-General of Peter Obi’s Presidential Campaign stated that with the coming up of local refineries, some level of succour should be given to Nigerians.
He maintained that with the allocation of 450,000 barrels a day for local consumption, Nigeria can combine the advantage of local production with local consumption and determine the price to sell crude to local refineries.
“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.
“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 cheap to determine the average pump price of Premium Motor Spirit in the country,” he stated.
