UPDATE: Oodua groups back Tinubu on fuel subsidy removal

…Appeals to NLC, TUC to sheath swords as govt moves to get refineries working

The Coalition of Oodua Self-Determination Groups has appealed to Nigerians to support the subsidy removal by President Bola Tinubu saying that he took the right decision.

The leader of the Yoruba groups, Mr Razak Olokoba, while speaking in a joint press conference held at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos State on Tuesday, June 6, 2023, said Nigeria cannot continue to budget trillions of naira on fuel subsidy alone.

He said, “For this year, 2023, Nigeria budgeted N11 trillion of its oil revenue on subsidising petrol alone. This cannot continue. This is good money going down the drain, with little or nothing to show for it.

“This huge amount can be channelled into solving our several deficits, including, infrastructural, housing, education, healthcare and generally upgrading the quality of life for Nigerians. It will also help strengthen the naira.

Olokoba stressed that Nigeria’s economy depends 90 per cent on petroleum exports for its revenue and one-third of its Gross Domestic Product has been zero revenue from the sector, adding, “Tinubu said he inherited the assets and liabilities of the last regime. Nigeria currently owes massive local and foreign debts to the tune of N71 trillion.”

The group’s leader maintained that if the subsidy is not killed, it will kill Nigerians while explaining that since the year 2000 when the Nigerian government gave 20 refinery licences to private companies, adding that none was built apart from Dangote’s recently inaugurated.

Olokoba further encouraged competition in the oil sector, noting that it will bring about lower prices.