Senator Urges Debate On Oil Subsidy

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Petroleum (Downstream), Senator Magnus Abe, has urged Nigerians to contribute to the debate on the planned removal of fuel subsidy.

Abe, who made the call in an interview with The Tide in Port Harcourt advised Nigerians to be open-minded in discussing issues affecting the future of the country.

“I think that if we really want to look at the challenges of this country, the petroleum sector, particularly the downstream sector is one of those things that we should discuss. What I think the President has done is that in the medium term expenditure profile of plan, the administration has put these issues out, this is where they intend to take the country,” he stressed.

The Senate committee chairman emphasised: “So, I think that Nigerians who are serious about it should be able to look at the proposal of the president, what it entails for the economy, what values it can add or what challenges it will pose and discuss it intelligently.”

Abe urged Nigerians to resist being propelled by sentiments or sensational aspects of the debate, pointing out that Nigeria spends 450 million dollars monthly on subsidy and that such issues should also be debated.

“From what I understand now, Senator Abe said, “we are spending close to 450 million dollars a month on petroleum subsidy, so if that will not hurt the economy and the other will, then let us understand which one is more dangerous to the economy because we are spending eight billion dollars a year.”

As he puts it, “we have a decrepit downstream sector. We do not have functional refineries in this country and there is no investment in the downstream sector,” adding “all the oil companies that are in this country are drilling oil here, but why have  they not built refineries in this country”, he queried.

He, therefore, urged Nigerians to consider the issues at stake in the debate and address them with unbiased minds.