Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) presidential candidate, Donald Duke, has lambasted the ongoing debate between President Bola Tinubu, former Vise President Atiku Abubakar and former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, over petrol subsidy. Duke said petrol could sell for about N200 per liter in Nigeria if it could properly tap into other products from crude oil. Applying For Government Grants
Duke, who called the fuel subsidy debate a “scam”, said the country’s crude oil resources and the variety of products derived from crude should make petrol much cheaper for Nigerians.
He said, “Look, I don’t think there is any subsidy on fuel. For every barrel of crude oil, there are roughly seven by-products. The consequential ones are diesel and petrol. PMS and AGO. And kerosene, aviation fuel and all those things.
“All right, you sell them at commercial rates, okay? You figure it out. You can sell petrol today at N200 per liter, almost, not N1,000-plus. “So that subsidy thing I think is the biggest scam that has been perpetrated, maybe globally.”
He took his position against the backdrop of divergent proposals by Tinubu, Atiku and Obi on how to address the rising cost of petrol and its impact on Nigerians.
In May 2023, Tinubu removed the petrol subsidy, stating the policy was unsustainable and that funds previously spent on subsidy could be diverted to development.
Atiku has called for a targeted subsidy to cushion the impact of high living costs while Obi has backed the removal of subsidy but called for greater transparency in the use of the savings.
But the former governor of Cross River State said the debate was not taking cognizance of the huge energy resources in Nigeria and the need to exploit them for the good of the citizens.
“You are an energy-rich country. You have all the known forms of energy that exist in Nigeria from the crudest which is human labor to hydrocarbons, solar, hydro, uranium and now lithium.
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“You’ve got all those things. Why are we still energy poor? Because the political will is lacking. “But even beyond the political will, we are not thinking this through,” he said. Subscribing to Political News Sources
The ex-governor also criticized Nigeria’s continued flaring of natural gas, despite the continued energy shortages and high costs of electricity.
“We burn off two billion cubic feet of gas a day easily. That’s equivalent to 20 million liters of diesel. You wouldn’t be using 20 million liters of diesel a day to run a turbine to power all of Africa. “So, it’s like there is water in abundance but the fish is thirsty,” he added.
Duke also dismissed the comparisons of Nigeria’s fuel prices with those of other countries, saying governments should exploit their various natural resources.
Every country has its endowments, and when I hear excuses like, ‘Oh, it’s cheaper in America,’ or, ‘It is cheaper than it is in America,’ I think, ‘No, it’s not.
“You’ve got to use what you’ve got to get what you want. Blessed country we are. “The people should feel their blessings,” Duke said.
He also asked why Nigeria was exporting gas to other West African countries when it was unable to meet its own domestic energy needs.
“You have a West African Gas Pipeline, but you don’t have any self-sufficiency in gas in your country,” he said. Something’s wrong somewhere. ‘We aren’t thinking straight.”
Duke said the country’s energy crisis could be solved if the government had the political will to develop the nation’s abundant resources properly.
“Why are we still energy poor? There’s no political will. We don’t think about our problems,” he said.