By Our reporter
President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote has called on the federal government to end fuel subsidy.
Speaking in an interview on Monday, with Bloomberg news, New York, Dangote said the “time is right” for Nigeria to end a decades-long subsidy on fuel, as gasoline production at his mega refinery will help to ease pressures on the naira.
“Subsidy is a very sensitive issue. Once you are subsidizing something then people will bloat the price and then the government will end up paying what they are not supposed to be paying. It is the right time to get rid of subsidy,” Dangote said.
On his refinery, he said: “This refinery will resolve a lot of issues. It will show Nigeria’s accurate petrol consumption. Now, nobody can tell you. Some people say we consume 60 million litres of gasoline per day.
“Some say, it’s less. But right now, if you look at it by us producing, everything can be counted. So everything can be accounted for, particularly for most of the trucks or ships that will come to load from us. We are going to put a tracker on them to ensure they take the petroleum products within Nigeria. I think it can help the government save quite a lot of money. I think it is the right time, you know, to remove the subsidy.
“The removal of subsidy depends on the government and not on us. We cannot change the price, but I think the government will have to give up something for something. In the end, the subsidy will have to go.
“We will also sell in the domestic market. What that will do is that it’s going to remove 40 percent pressure on the naira. Petroleum products consume about 40 percent of foreign exchange.
“The deal is to give the government something that they want. It is also a win-win situation for all and would benefit the country.
“Currently, discussions are ongoing to determine the details of the agreement. They are working out something that would be a win-win between us and the NNPCL.”
Dangote expressed optimism about the proposed agreement adding: “The agreement is very robust. We would have energy security as they will give us crude oil. For example, in October, they are going to give us 12 million barrels, indicating an average of about 390,000 barrels a day.”
With report from NAN