Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has finally broken his silence on the controversy currently trailing the removal of subsidy from fuel.

Nigerians have been lamenting following the announcement of the deregulation of the oil sector, which jerked the price of the product from N86 to N145 per litre.

Reacting to the development, the Vice President stated that the best thing that could happen to the nation was the bold step taken by the President to remove subsidy from the product.

In a statement issued on Friday, Osinbajo explained why the presidency decided to take the ‘harsh’ decision, which would eventually benefit Nigerians.

His statement reads in full:

“I have read the various observations about the fuel pricing regime and the attendant issues generated. All certainly have strong points.

“The most important issue of course is how to shield the poor from the worst effects of the policy. I will hopefully address that in another note.

“Permit me an explanation of the policy. First, the real issue is not a removal of subsidy. At $40 a barrel there isn’t much of a subsidy to remove.

“In any event, the President is probably one of the most convinced pro-subsidy advocates.

“What happened is as follows: our local consumption of fuel is almost entirely imported. The NNPC exchanges crude from its joint venture share to provide about 50% of local fuel consumption. The remaining 50% is imported by major and independent marketers.

“These marketers up until three months ago sourced their foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria at the official rate. However, since late last year, independent marketers have brought in little or no fuel because they have been unable to get foreign exchange from the CBN.

“The CBN simply did not have enough. (In April, oil earnings dipped to $550 million. The amount required for fuel importation alone is about $225million!).

“Meanwhile, NNPC tried to cover the 50% shortfall by dedicating more export crude for domestic consumption. Besides the short term depletion of the Federation Account, which is where the FG and States are paid from, and further cash-call debts pilling up, NNPC also lacked the capacity to distribute 100% of local consumption around the country. Previously, they were responsible for only about 50%. (Partly the reason for the lingering scarcity).

“We realised that we were left with only one option. This was to allow independent marketers and any Nigerian entity to source their own foreign exchange and import fuel. We expect that foreign exchange will be sourced at an average of about N285 to the dollar, (current interbank rate). They would then be restricted to selling at a price between N135 and N145 per litre.

“We expect that with competition, more private refineries, and NNPC refineries working at full capacity, prices will drop considerably. Our target is that by Q4 2018 we should be producing 70% of our fuel needs locally. At the moment even if all the refineries are working optimally they will produce just about 40% of our domestic fuel needs.

“You will notice that I have not mentioned other details of the PPRA cost template. I wanted to focus on the cost component largely responsible for the substantial rise, namely foreign exchange. This is therefore not a subsidy removal issue but a foreign exchange problem, in the face of dwindling earnings.”

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https://www.google.com/amp/dailypost.ng/2016/05/13/why-buhari-removed-fuel-subsidy-osinbajo/amp/

And they are busy fact checking on obi alone. It is good that obi beat the dwarf pastor in his lying game

This short dwarf of a pastor need to apologise to goodluck Jonathan and all Nigerians

lai Mohammed forgot to teach osibanjo how to lie wella

pastor pastor, I thought you guys will remove subsidy when get elected?

Lol .

some idiots want to kill themselves because of prof Osinbajo the future president.

Diiet:
Lol .

some idiots want to kill themselves because of prof Osinbajo the future president.

future ke?

Binikingdowm:
future ke?

You don't know yet that someday he'll rule this country?

Edodefender:



“Permit me an explanation of the policy. First, the real issue is not a removal of subsidy. At $40 a barrel there isn’t much of a subsidy to remove.


“You will notice that I have not mentioned other details of the PPRA cost template. I wanted to focus on the cost component largely responsible for the substantial rise, namely foreign exchange. This is therefore not a subsidy removal issue but a foreign exchange problem, in the face of dwindling......

For zombies that cant read especially Diiet above, that is the summary of what your V.P said about subsidy, it was NEVER removed cos there was NOTHING to remove according to him, all other things he said was rubbish, refering to NNPC as a third party when we all know NNPC is Federal Government owned, bunch of liars.



Vote wisely people.

Hmm baba buhari reduce am now again na

So sad check it

Lady Murders Neighbor’s 2-Yr-Old Child To Punish His Dad

https://candytv.ng/lady-murders-neighbors-2-yr-old-child-to-punish-his-dad/

How many times this government wan comot subsidy sef??....becos i'm nor understanding again!!

[img]https://media./images/b4d18661ac5778f14dca54c889030ab4/tenor.gif[/img]

The only thing this deluded mind failed to tell us is what subsidy money removed is used for. Upon removal of subsidy things are still difficult for common man. Probably what was removed is partial subsidy as stated by petroleum minister. The bigger one will be a surprised package for new year. With subsidy and corruption, Gej built 14 universities, now with Mr integrity nothing to show even with removal of subsidy. All of u will surely rot in hell.

Removal of subsidy is the best way to go
But what happened to our refineries
3 years is enough time to have a good refinery in place

We want to see the progress made

Who go dash me dis kind flower

Osibanjo na professor of lies.
That's all.

So why did the fuel price increased. useless govt

Biglittlelois:
wow

Babe I know just understand this your "wow" thing o.which level na?

months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds away from february 2019, but one thing is certain buhari/jibrin will be bundled back to daura/sudan as the case may be

People need to be jailed for this massive subsidy fraud , you make Nigrians pay double for petrol lying that you have removed subsidy and then go ahead to illegally spend 3 times more in in secret unaccountable subsidy payments

The only thing APC are good at is deceiving people... they are very perfect in that department

I dey laugh!

Nice one prof. ( i just love this man)

And i want him to be our president

This pastor is surely fake

Diiet:
Lol .

some idiots want to kill themselves because of prof Osinbajo the future president.

God go bless you jawe.
Osinbajo becoming president in 2023, that one na im sure pass. Igbos will be considered in 3097.

But today;

"Subsidy is good.... The Federal Government cannot remove petroleum subsidy now because of the effect it will have on Nigerians"-Osinbajo

Osinbajo confirmed that APC govt acknowledged there is Subsidy.Meanwhile; "Subsidy is a fraud.Subsidy does not exist." according to Buhari

When the then President Jonathan removed subsidy in 2014 and pronto, the self-serving but myopic APC started the "Occupy Nigeria" protests @ Ojota-Lagos.Karma will continue to deal with you all.

Osibanjo and his goons accused the last administration of crimes that they perpetrate today...



That's the classic case of hypocrisy