By Lateef Ibrahim, Abuja
Oyo State Governor and presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples’ Movement (APM), Engr Seyi Makinde has declared that Nigeria’s oil must provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians.
That benefit, Makinde maintained, should be built into the system from the beginning, through the price at which crude oil is supplied for domestic refining—not through an opaque intervention at the petrol pump after all the costs, inefficiencies and distortions have been added.
The APM Presidential candidate made this declaration in his remarks at the commissioning of the APM Campaign Office, in Abuja on Monday.
He maintained that Nigerians must be able to see how the final price is reached.
Makinde insisted that Nigerians need complete transparency across the petroleum value chain—from production and domestic crude allocation to refining, transportation, distribution, taxes and retail margins.
According to him, “Today, we are not just opening a campaign office.
We are opening another door for Nigerians to join the conversation about the future of our country.
“A conversation about what must change. A conversation about how we can make Nigeria work for every Nigerian. That is what Reset Nigeria is about.
“In the past few days, I have spoken about the petrol pricing framework. “Some people have asked whether I am suggesting that we bring back the old fuel subsidy. That is not my position.
“Let me explain my position very simply with this example. If a community grows food, the people of that community should not have to buy that food as though it travelled halfway around the world before reaching them.
“So, why should crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries be priced as though Nigeria does not produce crude oil?
“Nigeria’s oil must provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians.
“That benefit should be built into the system from the beginning, through the price at which crude oil is supplied for domestic refining—not through an opaque intervention at the petrol pump after all the costs, inefficiencies and distortions have been added.
“And Nigerians must be able to see how the final price is reached.
“We need complete transparency across the petroleum value chain—from production and domestic crude allocation to refining, transportation, distribution, taxes and retail margins.
“Nigerians should know what they are paying for, who receives what and where inefficiencies are increasing the final price. That is what it means to Reset Nigeria.
“It means that we stop accepting systems that nobody can explain. It means that government must show its workings.
“It means that Nigerians must know how decisions are made, how public resources are used and who benefits from them. It means that when Nigeria’s wealth grows, the lives of Nigerians must also improve”, he said.
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