Tinubu’s Appointee Advises Nigerians to Pray Against Refineries Working

Patrick OdeyOctober 3, 2023

1 minute read

A tax expert and the chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Taiwo Oyedele, has advised Nigerians to pray that their refineries do not work.

He made this statement at The Platform’s Independence Anniversary event, held in Lagos on Monday. He explained that the inefficiencies in the management of the refineries would make petrol more expensive in Nigeria than anywhere else in the world.

Oyedele said that many Nigerians believe that if their refineries were working, they would enjoy cheaper and more reliable petrol supply. However, he debunked this notion as a fallacy.

He said that the refineries are so poorly run that they would consume more resources than they produce. He said that the refineries would require huge subsidies to operate, which would be worse than the current subsidy on petrol at the pump.

He said: “Nigerians would say if only our refineries were working, then we’ll be fine. Nothing can be farther from the truth than that. In fact, Nigerians should come together and say please make sure that our refineries don’t work. We should sell them.

“If Nigerian refineries process crude oil, unless we deal with our inefficiency, one litre of petrol will be the most expensive in the world. You would have succeeded in replacing the subsidy at the pump with subsidy of the refineries.”

He cited the example of the National Assembly, which revealed that over N10tn had been spent on maintaining the refineries even when they had not produced anything.

He said that this was a waste of public funds that could have been used for other developmental purposes.

He urged Nigerians to demand accountability and transparency from their government and to support reforms that would improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public institutions.