APC National Chairman Says The Removal Of Petroleum Subsidy Is Inevitable

National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, yesterday said that the removal of fuel subsidy was inevitable.

Odigie-Oyegun, who said this when he received a delegation of the APC National Coalition for Peace and Mobilization (NACOPEAM) at the party’s National Secretariat in Abuja, added that the gradual removal of subsidy was necessary in view of emerging and current realities.

He said the current administration inherited an “infected system of subsidy” run by corrupt cartels, declaring that “in one way or the other, subsidy must go”.

He said the government spending of almost a trillion Naira yearly on “the corruption-tainted subsidy regime” was unacceptable and unsustainable.

According to the APC Chairman, oil cartels and their cronies resisting change have continued to blackmail and sabotage government on the issue of subsidy, a development that has resulted in the lingering nationwide fuel scarcities despite serious government efforts.

While describing the current fuel scarcity as a “national disgrace”, he stressed the need to restructure the country’s oil and gas sector which he said had been marred by corruption and inefficiencies.

He said President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to adjust its pricing template to reflect competitive and market driven components might not necessarily result in increase in the pump price of petrol.

The APC National Chairman said the presidential directive to the PPPRA would only result in a more efficient and realistic pricing system for petroleum products and constant availability of fuel.

Earlier, the NACOPEAM National President, Comrade Ahmed Saleh, had said that the fuel scarcity impacted negatively on the party.