Okupe Counters Dangote on Fuel Subsidy Removal Call

Doyin Okupe challenges Dangote’s call for the total removal of fuel subsidies, arguing that the move could worsen economic conditions for Nigerians.

Dr. Doyin Okupe, a former presidential spokesperson, stated on Tuesday that he disagreed with Aliko Dangote’s demand to eliminate petroleum subsidies entirely.

Okupe stated this viewpoint in a Lagos interview with NAN.

According to a report by OBASANJONEWS, Dangote, the owner of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery, encouraged the Nigerian government to entirely discontinue gasoline subsidies in a Bloomberg interview.

Dangote stated that the moment had come to terminate the subsidies, which he claimed had cost the nation trillions of naira, during the 26-minute interview that took place in New York on Monday.

Reacting, Okupe declared: “With all due respect, I do not agree with Aliko Dangote’s proposal that the government should immediately stop providing subsidies.”

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“Regardless of wealth, petroleum is the lifeblood of the Nigerian economy. Other nations around the world do not face this circumstance.

According to the former director-general of the Peter Obi presidential campaign, Nigerians should receive some assistance once local refineries start operating.

According to him, with the allotment of 450,000 barrels a day for local consumption, Nigeria may combine the benefit of local production with local demand and choose the price to sell oil to local refineries.

“We can take use of the opportunity these regional refineries present to us, guaranteeing a sufficient supply of gasoline with the daily crude oil allotted for local consumption, which is not covered by the OPEC quota.

Therefore, anything we do with it is personal business and a means of offering solace.

“To find the average PMS (Premium Motor Spirit) pump price across the nation, we can sell this daily allocation of crude oil for local consumption at a low cost.

If we were to sell Nigerian oil, for example, at a price of $35 or $37 per barrel to the Dangote refinery, we might reduce the pump price of petroleum to N500 or N600 per litre after adjusting for processing fees and profit margin.

He declared, “The masses will be greatly relieved, comforted, and supported by this.”