CNPP applauds Buhari on Refusal to Remove Subsidy

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) yesterday enjoined President Muhammadu Buhari to enter into partnership with genuine private investors to build refineries in Nigeria.

CNPP, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu maintained that the measure remains one of the viable means to employ millions of unemployed youths in the country.

CNPP further maintained that the repairs of the refineries would save trillions of Naira and harvest scores of derivative products which manifest from the refineries.

Commending President Buhari on his resolve to handle with care the contentious issue of Oil Subsidy, CNPP reiterated it’s position to be on the page with Mr President’s resistance to all manner of temptations to remove the Oil Subsidy.

It noted: “CNPP is of the candid view that President Buhari has the political will to plug most of the leakages, scams and unbridled corruption which enveloped the Oil Subsidy, a supposedly pro-people initiative.

“Removing the Oil Subsidy for us is like throwing away the baby and the bath water; as records clearly show that the fantastic figures gazetted by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC ) and its agencies in the last five years cannot stand the test of genuine forensic audit.

“Otherwise, what are the justification for the astronomical rise of Oil Subsidy from N630 billion in 2010 to N2.3 trillion in 2012? Or the deliberate none remittance of 42% of Oil proceeds from 2012 to 2015 to the Federation Account?

“It is on record that the NNPC earned N2.66 trillion in 2013 and paid to the Federation Account Allocation Committee N1.56 trillion, in 2014 earned N2.64 trillion and remitted N1.44 trillion and in 2015 earned N733.3 billion and paid in only N473.2 billion.

“And is not unbridled corruption which botched the $23 billion Greenfield Refineries awarded on 13th May, 2010? These are refineries meant to be located at Bayelsa, Kogi and Lagos states, which could have stopped the huge loss arising from importation of refined petroleum products.”