Jos, Aug. 1, 2023: Residents of Jos, the capital of Plateau, have advised the Federal Government to invest the proceeds from the removal of fuel subsidy to revive ailing refineries in the country.
Some of the residents on Tuesday in Jos, also advised government to build modular refineries in order to address the current hardships being faced by citizens.
The residents were reacting to Monday’s broadcast by President Bola Tinubu, tagged: “After Darkness Comes the Glorious Dawn’’.
In the broadcast, the President disclosed that government had saved more than N1 trillion in total, from fuel subsidy removal, an amount he said would have been squandered by few individuals in the past.
Mr Fulus Pam, a public affairs commentator, said that reviving the refineries would address the issues surrounding the controversial subsidy regime in the country.
“Our refineries are just laying fallow, and those in power deliberately do not want to revive them because they want to continue to benefit from the oil business.
“So, I call on the Federal Government, to use the proceeds from subsidy removal to revive those refineries and make them functional, in order to boost local production.
“Government should also build modular ones; that way, it will ameliorate the hardships currently being faced by Nigerians,’’ Pam advised
In the same vain, Mr Jonathan Brass, a legal practitioner, called on the Federal Government to end oil theft in the oil producing region.
Brass also advised that those involved in oil theft should be rehabilitated, and encouraged to put their talents to good use, to boost production.
“Government should not stop at reviving the refineries or building modular ones, it should strive towards ending oil theft in the producing region.
“It should harness the talents of bunkers in the creeks, because 90 per cent of the diesel we consume in this country is refined locally in the creeks,” he said.
On his part, Mr Duke Ogbureke, the National Moderator of the Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA), called on government to use the proceeds to properly fund education.
Ogbureke said that with the removal of fuel subsidy, the large chunk of resources preserved should be channeled towards providing a better and qualitative education.
He maintained that countries which planned to develop must finance education, and must do so using the maximum available resources, which included internal and external sources.
