“Government Must have a Listening Ear” Oil Marketers Urges President Tinubu to Ease Subsidy

Oil marketers on Tuesday advised President Bola Tinubu to progressively ease the withdrawal of subsidies on Premium Motor Spirit, more commonly known as petrol as a result of importers’ inability to obtain US dollars and the effects this was having on businesses.
This occurred at the same time when Tinubu ruled out raising the price of petrol and reversing the fuel subsidy.
However, proponents of petroleum products urged the President to take a lesson from Kenya, highlighting the necessity of Kenya’s reinstatement of the fuel subsidy to lessen the catastrophic effects that its removal had on the Kenyan people.
“Let them not do the needful, they will see the consequences. We learned this morning that Kenya, which equally removed subsidy and noticed that its effect was so hard on the citizens, has again resumed the subsidy regime for the period of two months,” the Secretary, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu said.
“Government is about the people and it must have a listening ear. For Nigeria, how can we be an oil-producing nation with four refineries and all of them are down? We now depend on imports.
“When he (Tinubu) announced that thing (subsidy removal), we said it was going to bring problems.
“Are we not feeling the consequences of that announcement now? It is forex that largely determines the cost of petroleum products here.
“Marketers are not willing to import products again, So if the government is going to relax the removal of subsidy for a while, it should better do that as a matter of urgency.”
Even though the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited stated earlier on Tuesday that it has no intention of raising the price of petrol, Shuaibu contended that if the exchange rate keeps rising, the price of the product would soar over its current N617/litre in a matter of weeks.
“Relaxing subsidy removal is going to be a very wise decision right now, because going by the price of the dollar, the cost of petrol is bound to rise. In fact, some oil marketers are ready to join the labour union to protest,” he added.
If the NNPCL keeps selling petrol at N617 per litre, particularly if the increase in the exchange rate continues, some retailers had predicted that petrol subsidies would progressively encroach.
The full elimination of subsidies will result in tremendous suffering, according to Chief Chinedu Ukadike, national public relations officer for the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria.
The IPMAN PRO had previously explained that the price of imported goods, including petrol, would rise in line with an increase in the dollar’s exchange rate.
“Once there is a slack in the naira against the dollar, there is going to be an effect. The demand and supply of forex is a key factor. We should also understand that it is not only petroleum products that use forex.

Source: Allnews Nigeria

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