Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former presidential spokesperson, stated on Tuesday that he disagreed with Aliko Dangote’s demand to eliminate petroleum subsidies entirely.
Okupe stated this viewpoint in a Lagos interview with NAN.
According to a report by Anaedoonline.ng, Dangote, the owner of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, encouraged the Nigerian government to entirely stop gasoline subsidies in a Bloomberg interview.
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Dangote stated that the moment had come to terminate the subsidies, which he claimed had cost the nation trillions of naira, during the 26-minute interview that took place in New York on Monday.
Reacting, Okupe said: “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.”
According to the former director-general of the Peter Obi presidential campaign, Nigerians should receive some assistance once local refineries start operating.
He claims that Nigeria may combine the benefits of local production and consumption to set the price at which to sell petroleum to nearby refineries, provided that 450,000 barrels per day are set aside for local use.
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“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 cheaply to determine the average pump price of PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) in the country.
“For instance, the price of Nigerian crude per barrel is $77, we can decide to sell to Dangote refinery at $35 or $37 per barrel, thereby having made adjustments of processing fees and profit margin, the pump price of petroleum can come down to N500 or N600 per litre.
“This will bring major relief, comfort and succour to the masses,” he said.
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