Spread the word
The presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has reiterated that his administration would sell fuel at N200 per litre, insisting Nigerians could not be forced to buy fuel at international price while their earnings remain at local rate.
Adebayo, who spoke on his energy policy for the country, faulted the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu, saying the President did not buy fuel himself and therefore would not feel the burden of the price hike.
“There is an international price for labour, there is an international price for journalists, lecturers, doctors, nurses and drivers. If you go to Australia, a driver earns $4,000 a month.
“Do you pay international price for labour in Nigeria? So why should someone who earns local wage be asked to pay international price for what he consumes? It doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
The SDP candidate said President Tinubu, on May 29, 2023, announced subsidy removal without participating in the market he was pricing.
“The person who doesn’t participate in your market cannot fix the price of the product in that market. His food is free, his clothes are free, his medical care is free, he lives in a free house paid for by us. Yet the same person who says Nigerians should endure is increasing his convoy,” Adebayo said.
He argued that Nigeria’s energy policy had long been designed to separate crude for export under OPEC quota from crude reserved for domestic consumption.
According to him, that was why the country built two refineries in Port Harcourt, one in Warri and one in Kaduna, at a time many communities had no roads, universities or hospitals, because government prioritized energy security.
“Crude oil that we refine at home is not the same as the one we sell internationally. If we want to sell internationally, we sell and share the money at FAAC. But domestically, we allocated 445,000 barrels for local refining,” he explained.
Adebayo noted that the refineries do not pay for crude and government does not pay for mining, as the arrangement was to refine crude for domestic use, from which multiple products including petrol, aviation fuel, kerosene, gas, naphtha and others are derived.
He maintained that with proper management and functional refineries, petrol can be made available to Nigerians at N200 per litre, rather than subjecting citizens earning local wages to international market pricing.
Spread the word