Debo Ologunagba, the National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ologunagba has urged President Bola Tinubu to declare state of emergency in the petroleum sector.
Speaking with Information Nigeria on Saturday, about his assessment of Tinubu’s one year in office, Debo queried the current administration over the state of the nation, adding that the country is the same with how the President met it in 2023.
The PDP’s chieftain condemned the removal of fuel subsidy and other policies made by the federal government.
He said: “Are Nigerians better now than they were one year ago? The answer is clearly No.
“Are you talking about the arbitrary and wreckless removal of fuel subsidy? Are you talking about how the income of people can no longer support anything they are doing? It’s not just what the party said, it’s about what you and I feel on the streets.
“Are you talking about the purchasing power, the pump price of petrol without any cushioning effect, the price of domestic gas, the electricity tarrif increase, the unguarded so called deregulation, the floating of the naira where today, planning becomes difficult, where many blue chip companies and multinationals leaving Nigeria, and with the attendant loss of employment which has caused social dislocation for the country.
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Debo urged President Tinubu to revisit his policies on petrol product pricing, adding that the survival of the country’s economy strongly depend on it.
“The president should go back to his policies on petroleum products pricing because the economy of this country is tied heavily with petrol and petroleum products. Nigeria’s total earning is about 90 to 95 per cent from crude oil, so if you must do that, there must be what I call a marshall plan. There must be an emergency declaration in that sector.
“The only way to begin to reverse this, is to ensure that at least, one of the four refineries is working. Nigeria has about 44,000 barrels per day internal consumption. Four of the refineries are dead, not working. So, all the 44,000 barrels are taken out for refining. When they are doing this, just look at the cost.
“What the presidential should have done is, is to have sold the four refineries, and find which of them can be fixed within the first nine months of the administration. If you are refining 100 barrels per day in Nigeria, it means that, you’re not taking them abroad again for refining, we’re not paying freight, we’re not paying cost of insurance, logistics, hauling charges, storage, transportation for tankers. That means there’ll be less pressure on the foreign exchange
“Now, by-products of refining from crude is almost over 50 by-products from crude from plastic, diesel, black oil, kerosene, aviation fuel. All those should be produced in Nigeria. All the companies that uses those by-products will not need to seek for foreign exchange to go and import raw materials.
“The cost of refining, which will be in dollars, will no more be there. When there’s less demand because there’s a supply, then it will shore up in terms of pricing and value. It’s simple economics but I don’t think they are listening to anybody. That’s the challenge.
