A maritime consultant and lawyer Barr. Tony Dania has advocated for a total overhaul of the entire petroleum supply chain in furtherance to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians before the controversial subsidy removal.
Dania submission was sequel to the sudden removal of petroleum subsidy by the President Bola Tinubu administration which has led to over 200% increase in Premium Motor Spirit ( PMS) pump price from the official rate of N185 per litre to N500 .
Adding his voice to a debate on the subsidy removal, the right activist on Channels Television Morning show ‘ Sunrise Daily” programme on Saturday with the theme: Subsidy Removal: Counting the Costs berated the federal government under President Tinubu for not taking drastic steps to overhaul the petroleum supply chain before his declaration on the removal.
He accused agencies of goverment for the arbitrary revenue collection from the supply chain adding that overhaul of the bottlenecks will save the country millions of naira from landing cost of PMS .
According to Barr. Dania : “We ought to have taken certain steps, there is no way we can take all the steps. Steps to overhaul the petroleum subsidy supply chain by removing all the bottlenecks. We have Customs, apart from collecting official revenue, they are collecting unofficial too, Navy the same thing, NPA, NIMASA are all there.
“Remove all these bottlenecks and you will be serving not less than N80 million from landing cost of PMS ” he said.
According to him, ” in the past the refineries were working and that puts less pressure on our financial system. But now the refineries are not working, despite so much money invested in them”.
He urged the government to liberalize the PMS import chain so other actors can come in . When asked if he is in support of the last administration’s request to borrow $800million.
Barr. Dania said ” Am not in support , just like I was not in support of collecting billions to pay judgement debts , when the government is continuously in existence”.
He commended the Tinubu Government for promising to unify the exchange rate saying, that it will help marketers to source for their funds. He also question why the product cannot be paid in Naira.
Barr. Dania who enhanced peace and unity in his town, in Etsako West, Edo State,of which the King, HRM Alhaji Aliu Kelvin Danesi, appreciated him with the title: OKWEOGBE OF SOUTH IBIE KINGDOM said he wished the government of President Tinubu to address the sufferings of the masses by implementing masses oriented policies as he has promised a renewed hope for Nigerians.
President Tinubu in his inaugural speech on May 29 said that the era of petroleum subsidy was gone, even as filling stations across the country had jacked up their pump prices per litre from N185 to N500.
