Following the statement credited to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency, PPPRA, over the weekend, where it mistakenly published a template announcing N212.6 per litre, as the new price of petrol, a human right activist, Mr Femi Falan, SAN, Monday, spoke against the modus operandi of the Nigerian government.
In an interview with Newsmen, the outspoken lawyer faulted the alleged fuel hike, noting that no one was fired for committing such blunder against the Nigerian people.
“So these are the issues, ‘nobody is in control of our country’, hence the PPPRA could just wake up one day and say oh we are going to sale a litre of fuel for N212, and the President as the minister of petroleum resources was not aware and nobody has been fired.”
When asked if he was against the government bringing back the fuel subsidy regime, Mr Falana opined: “You see, I’m not going to apologize for the irresponsibility of the Nigerian government. I am not going to enter into any debate on fuel subsidy. This is an oil producing country, which in the 1970s had four functional refineries. On yearly bases, a huge sum of money is earmarked for fixing and maintaining the refineries.
“If those refineries are not working, if new refineries have not been built by the government, if we now have to import fuel from abroad including from African countries that do not produce oil, there can be no justification for visiting the responsibility of the government on the Nigerian people. Again what do you call subsidy? The government claims that smugglers are moving liters of fuel from Nigeria to neighboring countries.
Again do you blame the Nigerian people, if the government cannot curb the criminality of smugglers. All the suggestions that have been made to the government to curb the menace of smugglers have been rejected. So, I cannot offer any apology for the mismanagement of addressing the challenge of supplying fuel to Nigerians.
“Other oil producing countries including Angola, Algeria, Saudi-Arabia etc, apart from meeting domestic requirements are making billions of dollars from export of fuel.
Again do you blame the Nigerian people, if the government cannot curb the criminality of smugglers. All the suggestions that have been made to the government to curb the menace of smugglers have been rejected. So, I cannot offer any apology for the mismanagement of addressing the challenge of supplying fuel to Nigerians.
“Other oil producing countries including Angola, Algeria, Saudi-Arabia etc, apart from meeting domestic requirements are making billions of dollars from export of fuel.
“In Nigeria case, what we are making from the exportation of crude oil, is allegedly spent on importation of fuel. It is a disgraceful act on the part of the government.
“Take the issue of smuggling for instance, I have suggested to the government that merely building mega stations in those neighboring countries, and selling fuel at a control price, will render smuggling totally unprofitable. After all, our banks, telecommunication companies are operating in our neighboring countries, why is it so difficult to build mega stations in Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana and other places.
Reviewed by Jude
on
March 16, 2021
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