Oil experts urge incoming govt. to end oil subsidy

Experts in the oil and gas sector on Monday urged the incoming administration of Muhammadu Buhari to end the subsidy on petrol.

They said in different interviews in Lagos and Port-Harcourt that the subsidy had in no way helped the masses.

They urged Buhari to take a critical look at the four refineries if they required a Turn-Around-Maintenance or outright privitisation.

Mr Thomas Olawore, Executive Secretary, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), said privatisation would end the disruption of the supply chain.

Olawore reiterated that the four refineries should be privatised so that petroleum products would be available and cheap.

He said the country would not have been in the current situation of paying subsidy if the refineries were functioning.

Mr Dada Thomas, Managing Director, Frontier Oil Ltd., Lagos, said that privatisation would bring competition in the downstream sub-sector and check fraud associated with petroleum subsidy payment.

Thomas urged the incoming administration to waste no time in privatising the refineries because the government had no business operating them.

Mr Edwin Nwachukwu, Engineering Manager, Frazimex Engineering Ltd., an oil servicing firm in Port-Harcourt, also urged Buhari to choose only capable and visionary investors who would turn around the refineries.

Mr Oluwaseyi Gambo, former spokesman of PENGASSAN, said that government should have minimal shares in the privitisation of the refineries.

Gambo added that the privitisation would play significant role and compete with the Dangote Group refinery, now under construction.