Adewole Adebayo, presidential candidate of the Social
Democratic Party (SDP), says he will reduce the prices of petrol, cooking gas
and aviation fuel, also known as Jet A1, to N200 per litre if elected president
in 2027.
Speaking in Abuja on Sunday in an interview with NAN,
Adebayo said the proposed pricing regime would be implemented within 12 months
of taking office.
He said his administration would revive Nigeria’s existing
refineries and encourage the operation of modular refineries as part of the
plan to reduce dependence on imported refined products.
The SDP candidate said the age of the country’s refineries
should not be a barrier to their rehabilitation, noting that some refineries in
the United States that are more than 100 years old are still operational.
“SDP will pick cooking gas, petrol and Jet A1; those three,
we will put them under a regime where the price does not go past N200,” he
said.
Adebayo said the proposed arrangement would also involve
restoring what he described as the original subsidy regime, under which 450,000
barrels of crude oil are reserved for domestic consumption.
He said the crude oil would be refined locally, while
products such as naphtha, heavy fuel oil, diesel and kerosene would be sold and
the proceeds used to maintain the proposed price regime.
He said the SDP would work with the national assembly to
establish the mechanism for applying revenue from the other petroleum
derivatives to support the pricing arrangement.
Adebayo argued that Nigeria should be focusing on building
sufficient domestic refining capacity instead of importing refined petroleum
products at international prices.
He said the country already had two major advantages for
achieving this — its crude oil resources and existing refining infrastructure.
The SDP presidential candidate said the subsidy debate had
diverted attention from the more fundamental problems in Nigeria’s petroleum
industry.
He also rejected the argument that removing petrol subsidy
by itself would resolve the country’s fiscal problems, describing that position
as a “red herring”.
Adebayo said Nigerians would not have to contend with petrol
subsidy under an SDP government, arguing that subsidy should not be regarded as
a government economic programme.
Beyond fuel prices, he proposed a transportation policy that
would combine cheaper petroleum products with expanded public transport and
rail services.
He said workers and students would be able to access public
transportation using employment and student identification cards, while
employers would contribute six percent of workers’ salaries towards
transportation.
According to Adebayo, the measures would bring down
transportation costs and stimulate economic activity.
He also proposed limiting housing costs to seven percent of
workers’ salaries, alongside free education and healthcare.
“The summary of it is that transportation costs cannot go
more than six percent of your salary and housing costs should not be more than
seven percent of your salary, education and healthcare should be free,” he
said.
Adebayo said agriculture and food security would also be
priorities under his administration as part of efforts to make food more
affordable.
Advertise on NigerianEye.com to reach thousands of our daily users
No comments
Post a Comment
Kindly drop a comment below.
(Comments are moderated. Clean comments will be approved immediately)
Advert Enquires - Reach out to us at NigerianEye@gmail.com