The Big Thing in Town: BUHARI UNCLEAR ABOUT FUEL SUBSDY

After six weeks of silence on the issue, President Muhammadu Buhari said monday that his administration would not make any decision on the clamour for the removal of fuel subsidies, adding, however, that his government would handle the issue on their removal “with care”.

According to the statement by Garba Shehu, the president’s Senior Special Assistant, Media and Publicity, the president spoke after receiving a briefing from the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and other agencies in the oil sector.
Shehu said Buhari told the officials that he had so far received a lot of submissions on the need to remove fuel subsidies but that he was still carefully reviewing them.
He quoted Buhari as saying: “I have received many literature on the need to remove subsidies, but much of it has no depth.

Buhari also said that the lack of security, sabotage, vandalism, corruption and mismanagement, not necessarily subsidies, were the most serious problems of Nigeria’s oil sector.

Buhari directed NNPC to review existing agreements for the crude oil swaps with a view to injecting more honesty and transparency into the process to reduce costs.
He also asked NNPC’s management to do more to improve the supply of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The president made the statement when he held a meeting with senior officials of Chevron led by the company’s President for Africa and Latin America, Mr. Ali Moshiri.
Buhari stated that his administration was ready to effectively address the challenges in the sector.

He ALSO identified improved security in the Niger Delta as key to increased investment in the oil and gas sector in Nigeria.

WHAT SHOULD BE HIS FIRST STEP REGARDING THE OIL/GAS SECTOR?