A prominent Civil Society Organization, Human Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre), has urged the Federal Government under President Muhammadu Buhari and his political party, the All Progressives Congress, to prioritize the revamp of the country’s refineries and tackle corruption in the petroleum sector before removing fuel subsidy.
In a statement issued by its Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, HEDA expressed concerns over the state of the Nigerian petroleum industry and criticized the government’s plan to remove fuel subsidy without addressing corruption and revamping the moribund refineries.
Suraju noted that corruption and mismanagement have plagued the Nigerian petroleum industry, leading to the poor state of the country’s refineries.
He further emphasized that the government’s failure to revamp the refineries has resulted in over-reliance on imported fuel, contributing to the high cost of fuel and the need for subsidy.
HEDA also alleged that the $800 million loan purportedly secured by the Nigerian Government from the World Bank is not a solution to the fuel subsidy problem but a ploy by the bank and government officials to further plunge the country into debt and provide opportunities to divert public funds under the guise of palliatives.
Therefore, HEDA called on the government to take concrete steps to revamp the refineries and clean up corruption bedevilling the sector. This includes implementing policies that promote transparency and accountability, ensuring a transparent process in the award of contracts, and appointing officials to oversee the refineries’ revamp. Also, to investigate the utilization of all the previous Turn Around Maintenance allocations to the refineries from 1999 to date.
HEDA believes that by focusing on these steps, the government can create a sustainable and viable petroleum industry that benefits all Nigerians.
