NAN reports that Dangote, owner of the 650,000 barrels-per-day refinery in Lagos, had urged the Federal Government to fully eliminate fuel subsidies during a 26-minute interview with Bloomberg in New York on Monday.
Dangote argued that the time was right to end the subsidy, which he said had cost the country trillions of naira.
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Reacting, Okupe said: “With utmost respect, I disagree with Aliko Dangote on his suggestion that the government should completely end subsidy now.
“Petrol is the economic oxygen of Nigerians, whether rich or poor. This is not the situation in other countries of the world.”
The former Director-General of the Peter Obi Presidential Campaign, Dr. Doyin Okupe, emphasized that with the emergence of local refineries, some relief should be provided to Nigerians.
He explained that with an allocation of 450,000 barrels of crude oil per day for local consumption, Nigeria could leverage the benefits of local production alongside domestic consumption. This would allow the country to set favorable prices for selling crude to local refineries.
“We can use opportunities that these local refineries avail us, ensuring adequate fuel supply with the dedicated or allocated daily crude oil for local consumption, which is outside OPEC quota.
“So, whatever we do with it is our internal affairs, it is a way of providing some level of comfort.
“We can sell this daily crude oil allocation for local consumption cheap to determine the average pump price of Premium Motor Spirit in the
country.
“For instance, the price of Nigerian crude per barrel is $77, we can decide to sell to Dangote refinery at $35 or $37 per barrel, thereby having made adjustments of processing fees and profit margin, the pump price of petroleum can actually come down to N500 or N600 per litre.
“This will definitely bring a major relief, comfort and succour to the masses,” he said.
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Okupe said that ending the importation of petroleum products would reduce the tension and pressure on foreign exchange demand by 40 per cent.
“This will give economic oxygen to Nigerian people, encouraging enterprises and local businesses because we all in Nigeria, rich and poor, depend on petrol as an economic oxygen.
“Every nation has a sector where it stands behind the people,” he added.
Dr. Doyin Okupe praised President Bola Tinubu’s bold move on fuel subsidy removal, calling it excellent and commendable.
He noted that the President had made significant progress by courageously eliminating subsidies and multiple exchange rates.
According to Okupe, these reforms have already begun to take root in the nation’s economic system.
“It is something very brave that no other previous administrations have had the courage to go through it.
“What the President did was actively like biting the bullets and he has been courageous enough to persevere and persist through it.
“Having done it for more than a year, my feeling and belief is that we have made enough gains, and because these refineries are upstream, we can consolidate on those gains and release the pressure on the masses a little bit.
“Fortune has played in our hands by the coming upstream of the Dangote refinery, Port Harcourt refinery and other refineries that will follow,” he said.
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