On Monday, September 23, the President and Chief Executive of Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, in a 26-minute interview with Bloomberg Television in New York, called on President Bola Tinubu to end fuel subsidy completely.
According to Dangote, the complete removal of subsidy would help determine the actual petrol consumption in the country.
His words: “Subsidy is a very sensitive issue. Once you are subsidising something then people will bloat the price and then the government will end up paying what they are not supposed to be paying. It is the right time to get rid of subsidies.”
“But this refinery will resolve a lot of issues out there, you know, it will show the real consumption of Nigeria, because, you know, nobody can tell you. Some people say 60 million litres of gasoline per day.
Fuel Accountability
He continued: “Some say, it’s less. But right now, if you look at it by us producing, everything can be counted. So everything can be accounted for, particularly for most of the trucks or ships that will come to load from us. We are going to put a tracker on them to be sure they are going to take the oil within Nigeria, and that, I think, can help the government save quite a lot of money. I think it is the right time, you know, to remove the subsidy.”
“Well, you see, we have a choice of either one. We produce, we export, and when we produce, we sell locally.
But we are a big private company. And yes, it’s true, we have to make a profit. We build something worth $20bn so definitely we have to make money.”
“The removal of subsidies is totally dependent on the government, not on us.
We cannot change the price, but I think the government will have to give up something for something.
So I think at the end of the day, this subsidy will have to go,” the businessman concluded.
Fuel Subsidy: The Hidden Truth
Ordinarily, one would expect Dangote’s statement to ring a bell to Nigerians, considering the fact that President Bola Tinubu had told Nigerians that fuel subsidy is gone, and gone for good.
But no, the reverse was the case.
Perhaps, Nigerians are just too quick to forget.
Or could it be the hardship in the country that is leading their minds away from delicate matters like this?
From Dangote’s comment, it is easy to deduce that the Federal Government could still be subsidising fuel.
This signals that Nigerians have constantly been lied to on this issue of fuel subsidy.
In fact, months after Tinubu’s “fuel subsidy is gone” declaration, many experts and politicians had accused the government of still engaging in subsidy.
Notably, Atiku Abubakar had called out the Tinubu-led government for lying to Nigerians about petrol subsidy.
Atiku urged the government to make public and clarify the issues surrounding subsidies to Nigerians.
You May Like: Fuel Subsidy: “Stop Deceiving Nigerians” – Atiku Blasts Tinubu
However, the Presidency had boldly refuted this allegation, noting that there was nothing to hide.
Presidential spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, and other members of Tinubu’s cabinet had told Nigerians not to listen to the ‘enemies of the country’.
Onanuga specifically countered claims of fuel subsidy in the Tinubu’s administration as lies, noting that subsidy was long gone.
But then, fast forward to today, Aliko Dangote is begging the Federal Government to end fuel subsidy.
The big question here is, if the Tinubu Government claims to have ended fuel subsidy long ago, what fuel subsidy is Dangote referring to?
Watch the video of Dangote’s appeal to FG here:
