‘It’s a gift to Nigerians,’ Group says

monjola sotubo

May 12, 2016 11:48 AM

The group made the remark via a statement released by its Executive Secretary, Comrade Ikpa Isaac on Wednesday, May 11, 2016.

Nigeria's Oil Minister and OPEC president Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu addresses a news conference after a meeting of OPEC oil ministers in Vienna, Austria, December 4, 2015.

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The group made the remark via a statement released by its Executive Secretary, Comrade Ikpa Isaac on Wednesday, May 11, 2016, according to Vanguard.

The statement reads:

“Different revelations have emerged of massive fraud in the fuel subsidy process; trillions of naira are alleged to have been fraudulently stolen from the government purse in the name of fuel subsidy payments. It is heart rending to discover that the country is being bled on the side despite its already anaemic financial status.

“With this removal of subsidy, we will be exporting refined petroleum products thereby earning foreign currencies to shore up our reserves. It is time we do the next big thing after the great telecoms revolution that came with the liberalization of the sector in the early 2000s. We predict that the boom economy experienced with the deregulation of the downstream oil sector will make the telecoms experience a child’s play.

“Nigeria in the last five years has consistently spent over 1 trillion naira that is about $5b USD annually on petrol subsidies, same country that spent less than 20 billion naira on roads in the year 2015, but spent over 1 trillion naira on petrol subsidies in same year. This is unacceptable. It is on this backdrop that we proudly demand that no group or persons should distract the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration from saving this nation from this canker worm called fuel subsidy.”

The FG announced on Wednesday that petrol would start soon start selling for as much as N145 due to the subsidy removal.

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