As the debate on if the Federal Government should remove the subsidy
on petrol ranges, the cost of subsidy on a litre of petrol has come down
to N24.51. This is from N48.50 it was when Muhammadu Buhari took over
on May 29.,
According to a data posted by the Petroleum Products Pricing
Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) on its website over the weekend, the
differential on the landing cost of petrol, which was N96.02, plus the
marginal cost, which was N15.49, bringing the total cost of a litre of
petrol to N111.51 and the retail price of N87.00 was N24.51.
The PPPRA noted that the ex-depot cost of the product was N77.66.
Meanwhile, the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC),
Comrade Ayuba Wabba, told Daily Independent in an interview that the
Federal Government should not think of removing the subsidy on petrol
now as it would lead to an untold hardship on the citizenry.
“For us as organised labour, because we know that removing the
so-called subsidy on fuel is tantamount to increasing the suffering of
the average wage earner and majority of Nigerians that do not earn any
wages at all, we will continue to resolutely oppose any such plan, and
we will mobilise Nigerians in their millions to join us in this
struggle,” he said.
He said the Congress was surprised that the Group Managing Director
of NNPC, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has failed to read the lips of
President Buhari, who had consistently said he was not convinced that
the vast majority of poor Nigerians can afford to bear the effect of the
removal of the so-called subsidy on petrol.
He opined that the new NNPC boss ensure that the four refineries in
the country start to work at optimum capacity within the shortest
possible time; as well as come up with a doable plan for the Buhari
Presidency to establish new refineries to cater for the shortfall in the
domestic petroleum products needs.
But in contrast to Wabba assertions, the Group Managing Director of
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Emmanuel Ibe
Kachikwu, said more that 90 percent of Nigerians do not benefit from the
subsidy regime, insisting that the removal of the subsidy would not
lead to riots as witnessed in January 2012.
Kachikwu, who was quoted to have said this on Arise Television, a
cable network television, said: “The truth is that over 90 per cent of
Nigerians today are really not enjoying subsidy. Subsidy is likely in
the big cities like Lagos and Abuja and mainly for the rich because the
subsidy element does not trickle down to the hinterland and those who
are poor,” he said, explaining that rather than deal with subsidy in the
sense of absolute removal in the way it is known, the NNPC would create
ways to eliminate the perception of subsidy.
(Daily Independent)
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