NECA boss said: “Subsidy should go because we are paying for inefficiency. The money spent on subsidies could be used to build new refineries instead.”
By Eberechi Obinagwam,
The Director General of Nigeria Employers’ Association (NECA), Adewale Oyerinde has urged the federal government to remove oil subsidy and use the money to build new refineries.
According to him, “Subsidy should go because we are paying for inefficiency. The money spent on subsidies could be used to build new refineries instead of a few Nigerians benefiting from it,”
NECA’s DG who made this known while addressing the Labour Writers Association of Nigeria (LAWAN) on the state of the nation said for this to happen, the federal government, labor union, and other stakeholders must sit and come out with a modality for it.
“For you to remove subsidy, you must make the refineries work and they must be a process. The subsidy is ruffled with so many things we can not see. Petrol is an elastic demand, you can reduce the demand but you can not eradicate it. The attraction for that sector is very deep. I commend Aliko Dangote’s ongoing construction of the refinery, but then the federal government should build more with the money spent on subsidy because one refinery may not be enough,” he stated.
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He recalled how the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources recently said that it has no financial records of fuel subsidy payments from the year 2017 to 2021.
“Let us face the consequences of the subsidy removal once and for all,” he said.
He disclosed that the economy has not had it this bad with multiple taxes, inflation, increase in debts and unemployment, and incessant strikes amongst others.
Also, Oyerinde called on Federal Government to address the issue of creating a conducive environment for small businesses to strive, ”manufacturing companies are the bedrocks for job creation” he said.
