•A fuel attendant pumps petrol into a motorcycle at a fuel station
The Trade Union Congress (TUC) is proposing what it calls a “production subsidy” for Dangote Refinery and other modular refineries to help reduce the cost of premium motor spirit (PMS), better known as petrol.
TUC president, Festus Osifo, said this last night on Channels Television.
Osifo argued that since the federal government has maintained it won’t bring back subsidy on petrol, the country’s leadership must look at cushioning the impacts of the hike in the price of the essential commodity on Nigerians.
“So for us as a country, we are making a lot of money. In excess of what we budgeted. All right, so today we make at least $35 or so dollars per barrel beyond what we budgeted,” Osifo said on the current affairs show.
“So, what we proposed, knowing and understanding that they wouldn’t want to bring consumption subsidy, we were advocating for a production subsidy. Production subsidy, in that today we have modular refineries, right?
“So we were advocating that this extra $35, for example, that you are making per barrel, why don’t you take half of it, for example, and use it to subsidise the crude that you are giving to Dangote Refinery and the modular refineries so that they will be able to produce cheaper PMS?”
Since the start of the US/Israel-Iran War, the cost of petrol has moved from around ₦800 to about ₦1,300, depending on the location.
Despite calls for the country to bring back subsidy on petrol, removed upon President Bola Tinubu’s assumption of office in May 2023, the federal government has insisted there is no going back on the policy.
“We will not bring back fuel subsidy because it creates distortions for the economy, and we won’t introduce price control because we believe in the market… the situation in Iran presents new opportunities for us as the world looks to diversify sources of energy and invest in new markets,” the Minister of Finance, Taiwo Oyedele, said.
But Osifo wants the government to “think out of the box and quickly do things to assist its citizens”.
