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Okupe<\/p>\n
By Amah<\/p>\n
Kindly share:<\/p>\n
Dr Doyin Okupe,\u00a0 a former presidential spokesman, has countered Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote on the call for complete removal of subsidy.<\/span><\/p>\n Okupe gave his views in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n Dangote, owner of the 650,000 barrels per day crude oil refinery in Lagos, had in an interview with Bloomberg urged the Federal Government to end fuel subsidy completely.<\/span><\/p>\n Speaking during the 26-minute interview in New York on Monday, Dangote said the time was right to end the subsidy, which, he said,\u00a0 had cost the country trillions of naira.<\/span><\/p>\n Reacting, Okupe said: \u201cWith utmost respect, I disagree with Aliko Dangote on his suggestion that the government should completely end subsidy now.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPetrol is the economic oxygen of Nigerians, whether rich or poor. This is not the situation in other countries of the world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The former director-general, Peter Obi Presidential Campaign, said that with the coming up of local refineries, some level of succour should be given to Nigerians.<\/span><\/p>\n According to him, with the allocation of 450,000 barrels a day for local consumption, Nigeria can combine the advantage of local production with local consumption and determine the price to sell crude to local refineries.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe can use opportunities that these local refineries avail us, ensuring adequate fuel supply with the dedicated or allocated daily crude oil for local consumption, which is outside OPEC quota.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSo, whatever we do with it is our internal affairs, it is a way of providing some level of comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe can sell this daily crude oil allocation for local consumption cheaply to determine the average pump price of PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFor instance, the price of Nigerian crude per barrel is $77, we can decide to sell to Dangote refinery at $35 or $37 per barrel, thereby having made adjustments of processing fees and profit margin, the pump price of petroleum can come down to N500 or N600 per litre.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis will bring a major relief, comfort and succour to the masses,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Okupe said that ending the importation of petroleum products would reduce the tension and pressure on foreign exchange demand by\u00a0 40 per cent.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis will give economic oxygen to Nigerian people, encouraging enterprises and local businesses because we all in Nigeria, rich and poor, depend on petrol as an economic oxygen.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEvery nation has a sector where it stands behind the people,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n Okupe described President Bola Tinubu administration\u2019s bold step on fuel subsidy as excellent and commendable.<\/span><\/p>\n He said that the President had done a great job by courageously removing subsidy and eliminating multiple exchange rates.<\/span><\/p>\n According to him, the President\u2019s reforms have taken root in the economic system.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt is something very brave that no other previous administrations have had the courage to go through with it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhat the President did was actively biting the bullets and he has been courageous enough to persevere and persist through it.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHaving done it for more than a year, my feeling and belief is that we have made enough gains, and because these refineries are upstream, we can consolidate on those gains and release the pressure on the masses a little bit.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cFortune has played in our hands by the coming upstream of the Dangote refinery, Port Harcourt refinery and other refineries that will follow,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Okupe By Amah Kindly share: Dr Doyin Okupe,\u00a0 a former presidential spokesman, has countered Business mogul, Alhaji Aliko Dangote on…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,2],"tags":[127,743,443],"class_list":["post-2569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy","category-news","tag-aliko-dangote","tag-doyin-okupe","tag-fuel-subsidy"],"yoast_head":"\n