An economist and public affairs analyst, Dr Samson Simon has urged the Federal Government not to heed advice for the total removal of subsidy on petrol.
Simon, who is the Chief Economist, Economics & Data Limited was reacting to the interview granted Bloomberg Tv by the Chairman of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, wherein he urged the government to completely remove subsidy.
He, however, said it was not the right thing to do at the moment considering that the country does not have sufficient local refining capacity.
Speaking to Journalists in an exclusive interview, he observed that “theoretically, on paper, removal of subsidy is the best thing, it frees up resources to attend to more critical needs of the state, such as education, healthcare, infrastructure.
“But we have tried to remove subsidy and we have failed woefully, and while we have inflicted maximum pains on Nigerians by hiking the pump price of fuel, we are still even paying more for subsidy, that means there is a problem somewhere.
“I think what we are not getting right is that we need to ensure domestic refining, and then domestic supply of feedstock to these refineries, by the way it should not be limited to Dangote, because Dangote is a businessman, he is after profit and when he is a monopolist, he is even more dangerous.”
The economist also cautioned against allowing monopoly to thrive in the market, warning that Nigerians would suffer for it.
“There should be a competition. We have been a net exporter of cement for a while now and it has not really been a blessing in the sense that those people that are manufacturing cement charge more than the global average.
“So, domestic refining does not necessarily translate to lower prices; there is a need for us to ensure competition.