Oil Price Fall: Fashola Canvasses Pump Price Cut

As the global oil price continues to slide, Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, on Saturday demanded a downward review of the pump prices of oil products.
The governor also faulted the federal government’s reluctance to cut the pump prices of oil from N97 per litre in the country, to correspond with the slump in the global oil price.
He canvassed pump prices at the After School Graduation Development Centre (AGDC) held at Oregun, Ikeja yesterday. He lamented that Nigerians were not receiving fair treatment from the central government like others in oil producing countries.

According to him, now we should be enjoying cheap fuel if the price of oil has dropped globally, adding that even as we import the product, a major component has reduced in price.

He said: “While this has reduced, the pump price of fuel in the country still remains the same. Then something is wrong. If the price increases in the country when the price of oil goes up globally, then it should also reduce when the price of oil drops.

“I understand I am not an economist; the federal government are the economists. But I have some logic and common sense to ask critical questions. For instance, if one buys

flour at N10 per kilogramme, and the bread was sold at N1 per loaf; if the price of flour drops, the price of the bread should also change,” he argued.

He said the President Goodluck Jonathan administration should follow the footstep of other countries, which he said, had reduced the pump price of oil products for their citizens.

However, Fashola said the country’s oil sector “have not been improved to address challenges confronting the nation especially unemployment.”

He said the economy “is not doing well. Some of you are compelled to try to survive through whatever means.”

He explained how the oil sector would have addressed the unemployment challenges, if the country “has built refinery with Dangote in LFZ. Its construction alone will require 8,000 workers. It means that they must get to work and back. So there is need for transportation service. There is need for food and other services during work, and post construction.

“So if we stop importing fuel, and start building refineries and doing other right things. The economy will lift. If you build a gas grid for the country and rough estimate indicated that investing $5 billion, many businesses will begin to get gas and some of the power installations can also convert to gas and others, there would be sudden positive effect on the country’s economy.

“We will not be here talking about youth unemployment if the economy was doing well. There are so many businesses that are already shut down today because of either there was no power and the operational costs have made their product expensive. It has made it for many companies to succeed.

“From the maintenance contracts that we issue, 40 per cent of those maintenance cost were spent on buying diesel. One could imagine what that fund would have done if power was constant. That is depressing.”

Earlier, the Chairman of the AGDC, Mrs. Ibukun Awosika said the aim of the programme was created to address youth unemployment in the country especially in Lagos State.

Source: ThisDay