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| David-West |
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| Buhari |
As Nigerians keenly awaits May 29,
2015, inauguration of President-elect, General Mohammadu Buhari, one of his
frontline agenda has been unveiled by his strong ally.
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Fuel Pump Price will be N40 per litre
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Immediate removal of subsidy(Kerosene and Petrol)
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Construction of green field refineries with TAM of
existing ones
This is coming against the backdrop of
calls for the review of the upstream and downstream sector of the economy.
In an exclusive chat with OREDOLA
ADEOLA, Professor Tam David-West, who was a former Minister of Petroleum Resource
during the military administration of General Buhari, authoritatively disclosed
that, the new elected president, will upon his assumption of office, remove
petrol subsidy and reduce the pump price of petrol.
According to the Professor, the country
is forced to pay for scam carried out by oil cartels, which he described as
petrol importers, who receives billions of Naira every month, as subsidy for
doing nothing.
He however assured that the first
major assignment of the president-elect after his inauguration is to stop the
scam.
David-West said, “The president –
elect had disclosed that the subsidy initiative is a fraud which has distorted
the progress expected in the sector. He has always frowned at the spate of
corruption, which has characterized the subsidy regime, thus inhibiting efforts
to properly carry-out the turnaround maintenance (TAM) of the four existing refineries
in the country.
The former minister revealed that during
the military administration of Gen. Buhari, there were nothing like petrol or
kerosene importation or subsidy, rather the country was exporting the products
to other countries.
He disclosed that the subsidy scam crept
into the economy as a result of the activities of fraudsters who were acting as
middlemen in the downstream sector. He added that these men go about importing
the refined products to later make questionable claims.
He said, “These middlemen without
remorse make indiscriminate claims with impunity. Several panels of enquiries
have proven that trillions of Naira is paid to the cartels in the expense of
average Nigerians who are struggling to make ends meet.
He hinted that General Buhari has
promised to build more refineries with plan to fix the existing ones. He added that the new refineries will be built
without dipping into the treasury.
According to him, the country produces
millions of barrels per day that can be traded directly in exchange for the
product without necessarily involving middlemen.
“Buhari will build new refineries in
order to make petroleum products available for the masses. No responsible government
will allow the masses to suffer. God loves the poor and that is why Buhari is
interested in taking care of them.
“He will build new refineries within
a year. It is possible as we won’t spend any amount in setting up these green
field refineries. We already have a blueprint as we shall use what we have to
get what we want.
“I am confident that by the time he
settles down for business, petrol will be dispensed at N40 per litre. This is
possible because the president-elect has the political will to make it work.” the
former minister assured.
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