By Christian George
The Chairman, House Committee on Petroleum Resources Upstream, Musa Sarkin Adar has enjoined the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari (retd) to remove petroleum subsidy as a parting gift to President-elect, Bola Tinubu.
Adar said this while speaking to ARISE News on Wednesday.
He said that it is not the Tinubu administration that will remove the oil subsidy when he is sworn in, adding that Nigerians had been the ones to reject the removal of subsidy in the year 2012, which is why the All Progressives Congress were able to campaign for the 2015 elections by promising a later removal of subsidy.
In his words, “I wish the sitting government will remove subsidy before it goes. That will be the parting gift it could do to Nigerians and the incoming government.”
He expressed optimism that Tinubu’s administration will bring about the desired results when taking care of the issues related to the fuel subsidy.
The source further explained that the issue of subsidy removal, has in fact, been a long-standing challenge in the country and that it was necessary as fuel subsidies relied heavily on petroleum products.
He attributed the high cost of fuel to the import and export of crude oil, adding that money had been budgeted for the refineries in Nigeria, but the desired result was not achieved, so, the government had to increase the importation of petroleum to meet the energy demand of Nigerians.
“If we are refining in this country, there won’t be an issue of fuel subsidy, because there will be nothing to subsidise,” Adar added.
He believes that the incoming government “are people of integrity and they are people who have the concern of the masses at heart, and I am sure that they are also experts within them who will come and advice in the right direction and they do it the right way.”