The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria has knocked down Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the tax reforms committee, for saying Nigerians should pray that the country’s refineries do not work.
Mr Oyedele debunked on Monday the widely held belief that the refineries, when operational, would address Nigeria’s energy problems.
“Nothing can be farther from the truth than that,” he said at an Independence Anniversary Event in Lagos.
He noted that over N10 trillion has been spent on maintaining the country’s refineries, despite the fact that they currently produce nothing.
According to Oyedele, if the country’s refineries start producing, shortcomings in their management might cause petrol to become the most expensive in the world.
“You would have succeeded in replacing the subsidy at the pump with subsidy of the refineries,” he said.
Read Also:
In response to the request to sell the refineries, IPMAN National Controller Mike Osatuyi claimed that the nation’s energy ambitions are best protected when it controls them.
“You can’t control what you don’t own,” Mr Osatuyi said. “The cost of importing petrol is now very high. I think government is moving in the right direction by making the refineries work very soon.”
However, Wale Oyerinde, Director-General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association, disagreed, arguing that the refineries should be sold transparently to Nigerians or private persons who can run them efficiently.
“It has not worked before, so why are we keeping it? He said.
Oyerinde also proposed that instead of repeatedly investing in unproductive refineries, the government should play a regulatory role.
He concluded by saying that Nigerians have become overly emotional about the refineries and that they should be operated like businesses instead.
