Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has said concerns
raised by Dangote Refinery over government-imposed petrol prices have
vindicated his proposal for a production-based fuel subsidy.
Atiku, through his Senior Special Assistant on Public
Communication, Phrank Shaibu, said on Friday that Dangote’s warning that
private refineries should not be compelled to sell petrol at a loss was a
legitimate business concern which the Tinubu administration had allegedly
distorted to discredit his proposal.
“Dangote raised a legitimate business concern. The
Presidency turned it into a campaign of fear,” Atiku said.
He explained that his proposal was not aimed at forcing
domestic refineries to sell fuel below cost, but at reducing the cost of crude
feedstock supplied to qualifying Nigerian refineries through a transparent and
independently monitored system.
“We are restoring subsidy through a production subsidy
model, not an import subsidy model,” he said.
According to Atiku, the key difference is that an import
subsidy would support petrol refined outside Nigeria, while his proposed
production subsidy would support crude refined domestically, allowing Nigerian
refineries to produce fuel at lower costs.
“The subsidy follows the barrel refined in Nigeria,” he
said.
Atiku said the proposed mechanism would include a capped
level of support for crude supplied to eligible refineries, independent
verification, electronic tracking of crude intake and refined output, domestic
supply obligations and regular audits.
He also rejected the argument that protecting consumers from
high fuel prices must come at the expense of refinery profitability.
“We reject the false choice between a profitable refinery
and an affordable pump price. A competent government should be able to protect
both the producer and the consumer,” he said.
The former vice-president said the government should not
impose an arbitrary pump price and leave private refiners to absorb the
resulting losses.
“If the government wants to provide additional relief beyond
what lower crude-input costs can sustainably deliver, then the government must
pay for that relief openly. It must be budgeted. It must be capped. It must be
audited,” he said.
Atiku maintained that his proposed policy was designed to
encourage domestic refining, attract investment, create jobs and reduce the
cost of fuel for Nigerians.
“We are proposing targeted support for crude refined here in
Nigeria so that domestic refineries can produce more competitively, expand
capacity, create jobs and sell fuel at a price Nigerians can better afford,” he
said.
He urged the Presidency to engage with the substance of his
proposal rather than, in his words, “inventing a policy” for him and attacking
what he described as a fictional version of his plan.
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