Makinde: Nigerian crude must benefit Nigerians, not be priced like imports
pannigeriannews
2 min read
By Isaiah Adewole
Presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM) and Oyo State Governor, Engr. Seyi Makinde, has stated that Nigeria’s crude oil should provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians, outlining his position on how the country’s petroleum pricing framework should operate under his proposed “Reset Nigeria” agenda.
Makinde made his position known in Abuja while commissioning the APM Presidential Campaign Office, where he explained that crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries should not be priced as though the country were importing the resource.
“So my question is, why should crude oil supply to Nigerian refineries be priced as though Nigeria does not produce crude oil?” Makinde said.
According to him, the benefit of Nigeria’s crude resources should be incorporated into the petroleum pricing system from the outset, particularly through the price at which crude is supplied to domestic refineries.
“Nigerian oil must provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians. That benefit should be built into the system from the beginning, through the price at which crude oil is supplied for domestic refining,” he said.
Makinde clarified that the position should not be interpreted as a proposal to return to the old fuel subsidy regime.
“That is not my position,” he said, while arguing instead for a pricing structure that reflects Nigeria’s status as a crude oil-producing country.
The APM candidate also said transparency would be central to his approach to the petroleum sector, with Nigerians able to see how the final price of petroleum products is arrived at.
“Nigerians should know what they are paying, who receives what and where inefficiencies are increasing the final price,” he said.
Makinde said this approach formed part of what he described as the need to “reset Nigeria”, arguing that citizens should no longer have to accept systems whose workings cannot be explained.
“This is what it means to reset Nigeria. It means we stop accepting systems that nobody can explain,” he said.
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