Lawmakers have said that fuel subsidy became a “monumental fraud” because the Federal Government lacks the political will to take on the cabal in the oil and gas industry.
The lawmakers expressed the view in Abuja on Monday, while kicking against moves to sack workers on account of the dwindling funds available to states as a result of the crash in the global price of crude oil.
Speaking on behalf of the lawmakers, the Chairman, house committee on civil societies, Mr. Peter Akpatason argued that if the cabal could be taken out, subsidy dividends would reach the Nigerian masses, as it was not a bad idea to sustain it but for the “criminals in the system.”
He said that he was thinking of backing the total removal of subsidy because government had demonstrated weakness in confronting the criminals in the sector.
“We must take out the element of sabotage from the system,”he said, calling on the federal government to ensure that all the four refineries in the country function at full capacity to reduce the domestic supply gap and reduce prices.
He said, “There are people who do not want the refineries to work. They want them to be sold off as scraps so that they can come in and rip Nigerians off.
He pointed out that “All the money spent on maintenance, let government look into the contracts with a view to getting the refineries to become fully functional.”
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