Outburst Over Fuel Price Increase Understandable But Misplaced, Says NNPC GMD

According to the NNPC boss, contrary to what most people
believe, subsidy is something that is beneficial only to the rich,
not the average man.

“The subsidy in itself, is by every means an elitist thing and I
can share this with you. It is only the elite that will have three,
four, five cars in their houses, fill their tanks and also feel
comfortable doing this.

“The ordinary man is not the beneficiary. First, he loses in
infrastructure, hospitals are not built, schools are not built and
ultimately, the brunt of the corruption in the downstream sector
will be transferred to the ordinary man. So, overall, you lose
everything.

“It is very understandable for people to get angry that prices
have gone up. Just like the prices of every commodity, when it goes
up, there can be difficulties and challenges that people will
naturally face but once prices go up, the other natural thing that
must happen is that your income needs to increase so that you are
able to procure the things that are now delivered at higher
prices.

“You can’t do this anywhere in the world if there is no
productivity.

“And there will be no productivity except there is growth in
infrastructural development, industries are able to work,
therefore, there is a connection between production and
consumption. What subsidy does is to remove that connection.

“When people get angry, this is coming from people who,
practically are not aware of this situation and they are not aware
of the loss that they have and most importantly they are being
engineered into making those statements, and we understand this
perfectly.

“We are the national oil company, it’s our role to ensure energy
security. But you can’t do this until you are able to deliver cost.
And that cost is lost daily as prices of crude oil goes up and you
are unable to do many things”.

Plans for refineries

On the state of the nation’s refinery, Mr Kyari explained that
plans are on the way to rehabilitate the four major refineries to
maximum capacity.

According to him, this plan is expected to place Nigeria as the
world’s biggest exporter of oil in the next three years.

Fuel price was increased on Wednesday last week for the second
time this year after being reduced to N123.50 in April as
coronavirus-induced lockdowns crashed global oil prices.

As economies across the world reopened and the price bounced
back, the retail price in Nigeria shot back up to N148 in August
before the latest increase.

Although the increase in fuel price has sparked outrage with
various groups holding nationwide protests across the country, the
Federal Government has stood by its decision.

On Tuesday, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency
(PPPRA) said it was no longer going to be releasing price bands for
the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS/petrol) at filling
stations.

The agency reiterated that the price will now be fully based on
the forces of demand and supply.

“It is based on bargain power,” the General Manager (Admin and
Human Resources) of the PPPRA, Victor Shidok, said. “It is based on
where you source your products.”

However, he noted that the government will ensure customers are
protected from price-gouging and other ills associated with free
markets.

“You could have a regulator that always stand and remain a
watchdog to see how these forces are being played out, how the
interest if both operators and consumers are being taken care of,”
he said.