During The Platform’s Independence Anniversary event in Lagos, Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, advised Nigerians to hope that the country’s refineries remain non-operational.
Oyedele expressed concerns that if Nigerian refineries were to produce petroleum, inefficiencies in their management could result in the highest petrol prices in the world per litre.
“Nigerians would say if only our refineries were working, then we’ll be fine. Nothing can be farther from the truth than that. In fact, Nigerians should come together and say please make sure that our refineries don’t work. We should sell them.
“If Nigerian refineries process crude oil, unless we deal with our inefficiency, one litre of petrol will be the most expensive in the world. You would have succeeded in replacing the subsidy at the pump with subsidy of the refineries,” he added.
“The National Assembly said we have spent over N10tn maintaining our refineries even when they have not produced anything,” Oyedele said during the event tagged ‘Africa Rising Continent – Nigeria’s Strategic Role’.