By Miracle Ogunde
In reference to the claims made by the World Bank and the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Pinnacle Oil and Gas Limited, Mr. Robert Dickerman, insisting that the Federal Government is still paying subsidy for petroleum product, Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, (SAN) has asked the Nigerian Government to review the fuel subsidy removal policy.
Falana in a statement on Sunday called on the federal government to respond to the claims and also review the subsidy policy, owing to claims that the country still pays for it.
The statement by the Senior lawyer reads, “Curiously, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited has not deemed it fit to deny the serious allegation that fuel subsidy has been restored. Since there is no provision for fuel subsidy in the 2023 and 2024 Appropriation Acts the federal government should, without any further delay, confirm or deny the serious allegation and end the opacity surrounding the importation of fuel from foreign countries.
“It would be recalled that after the Muhammadu Buhari administration announced that it had removed subsidy on petrol, it turned around to spend N11 trillion on the so-called “under-recovery” within a period of 8 years.
“Therefore, instead of urging Nigerians to continue to endure the hardship caused by the removal of subsidies on petrol, the Bola Tinubu administration. If the federal government is spending as much as N1 trillion on fuel subsidy per month, it is high time the policy was reviewed in the interest of the Nigerian people.”
President Bola Tinubu, had on his inauguration declared an end to the subsidy era, triggering a hike in the prices of petroleum across the country.
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