Former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, has recalled the challenges and efforts to ease persistent fuel queues while in office, from 2016 to 2019.
Naija News reports that Kachikwu, while speaking at a business mentorship lecture series organised virtually by the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board on Monday, said much of the subsidised petrol imported into Nigeria was being smuggled across the borders, making scarcity inevitable.
According to him, the late former President, Muhammadu Buhari, resisted any adjustment to allow a review of pump prices to end the losses because of his populist stance.
He stated that late Buhari also threatened to sack him if his push to remove the petrol subsidy went wrong.
He said, “The greatest challenge that I had when I resumed as GMD was the issue of long queues at petrol stations. Very few Nigerians realise how much of a traumatic experience it is for a minister or a GMD, who’s committed, to get up in the morning and find out the whole country is grounded. Of course, I’ll go to filling stations, try to help them fill, and try to make sure there are no unnecessary traffic obstructions. At the end of the day, every time that happened, I had no sleep.
“When I then did my investigation, it was clear that a lot of the products we were bringing were crossing the border at subsidised rates. No matter how much I tried to work with customs, work with the ministry, or work with everybody, it just never happened. It just kept going because the position didn’t have the political or security resources to police Nigeria’s borders.
“I went to the President very many times, and I said, ‘Look, I need to move up on price. He resisted that very much because of his populist-type position. Eventually, he said, ‘Okay, you know what? I’ll leave you to take the risk. If you take the risk and it works, fine. If it doesn’t work, I fire you.’ That’s all well and good for me. And I did.”
The former minister explained that he introduced what he termed ‘price modulation’, a policy that allowed petrol prices to reflect international market realities, adding that the slight adjustment not only removed the subsidy but also cleared fuel queues across the country within 48 hours.
He stated, “That singular price adjustment removed the subsidy. There was no more subsidy. And within 48 hours, magically, every queue in the country stopped. It never happened again until I left. So, that was how I could, at least, sleep better, and the government was willing to make more money.”
The post ‘If It Doesn’t Work, I Fire You’ – Former Minister, Kachikwu Recalls Buhari’s Threat Over Subsidy Removal appeared first on Naija News.
