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| Alh Danladi Pasali |
We have advised Govt. to take advantage of the COVID-19 scourge and
deregulate the oil sector fully- IPMAN National Secretary.
By Joseph A. Adudu
April 01, 2020.
The Federal Government is said to
have been advised to fully deregulate the oil sector to allow market forces
determined the pump price through competition. This hint was dropped yesterday
by the National Secretary of the Independent Petroleum Markets Association of
Nigeria (IPMAN), Alh. Danladi Pasali in a chat with some Journalists in Jos,
the Plateau State Capital.
According to
Pasali, "As a matter of fact, when the COVID-19 scourge broke out, we
advised Mr. President to deregulate the oil sector completely so that after
sometimes, the pump price could go down to as low as N30 per litre".
He said that full
deregulation would help the system because it would mean government taking its
hands off the sector. Consequently, government would channel the huge sum of amount it
paid as subsidy to other projects stressing that almost 70 percent of the
country's budgets was spent on oil subsidy alone. “Full deregulation would help
the system, it would help the economy.
Government would remove its hands off
the sector completely. Therefore, even when the COVID-19 crisis ends,
government would not spend money again on subsidy because 70 percent of our
budgets is spent on subsidy".
Alhaji Pasali
added that full deregulation would further open the space for more investors into
the sector and increase employment opportunities. "Total deregulation
would also encourage investors to invest in the sector and build modern
refineries just like Dangote is doing", he said.
On why some
members of his association are still selling fuel at the old price of N145 despite government announcement of reduction of pump
price to N125 at the wake of COVID-19
pandemic, Pasali said "In every society, in every sector in Nigeria, you
have the good and the bad eggs. But what I know is that 80 percent of our
members have complied with the directives of government.
"If you go
round Jos city, you see petrol is being sold at the official rate. However, I
must say that it is in the blood of some Nigerians that no matter what good
policies government introduced, some people would want to sabotage it and it is
becoming a tradition and that is unfortunate".
Pasali said such
unpatriotic Nigerians abound in all sectors and the reason why prices of some
food stuff and items have skyrocketed including the ones we produced locally.
"Some Nigerians are fond of taking advantage of bad situations to further
unleashed havoc on their fellow human beings.
"One would
think that people would be sober at this moment and offer all they could to
mitigate the situation and bring succor to the people but alas, some are seeing
this as an opportunity to enriched themselves at the detriment of the common
man.
"This surely
would prompted any sane person to want to know what has happened to our
humanity", Alh. Pasali lamented.
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| Alh Pasali |
Pasali who is
also the National Coordinator of the Buhari Campaign Organization (BCO),
commended President Buhari for his foresight in introducing good policies some
of which have boosted the agricultural sector and enhanced massive production
of rice and other food crops. "Otherwise we would have experienced food
crisis. As if the President knew that one day all nations would close their
borders, he initiated policies that encourage made in Nigeria products.
"So, we
thank God we have a President that is focused otherwise we would have thinking
of how to import rice from Taiwan who are also engulfed in the COVID-19
scourged", he said.
Pasali commended
government for the measures taken so far and also advised Nigerians to adhere strictly
with government directives and measures taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19
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