The Independent Media and Policy Initiative (IMPI) has expressed support for plans by the federal government to engage private firms to operate Warri and Kaduna refineries when they come on stream.

Niyi Akinsiju, chairman of IMPI, said this while addressing journalists in Abuja on Wednesday.

He said that the removal of subsidy on petroleum products was what was needed at this time to rescue the country’s economy.

He appealed to Nigerians, especially the leadership of organised labour, to beam attention to governance at the state and local government levels, where more resources are now being allocated.

He said that the group supported the government’s plan to engage the private sector in the management of the two refineries presently undergoing rehabilitation.

According to him, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) recently invited companies to bid for operations and maintenance deals for the two refineries.

In a public notice on its official X handle, the national oil company explained that the move would help ensure reliability and energy security for the country.

Mr Akinsuji said that under the prevailing economic circumference, the government has no business in the petroleum refining business.

“The refining business is a highly specialised form of venture. I think about two weeks ago, we saw a publication by the NNPCL requesting companies that have the capacity to manage the refineries to apply.

“When those refineries are fully rehabilitated and delivered, it will be shared naivety for the government to still insist that products of the refineries should be sold at a subsidised price,” he said.

He said that the subsidy policy killed domestic refineries in the past.

According to him, the petroleum refinery produces so many byproducts other than petrol, which can help turn around the country’s economy for the better.

He said the fact that a poll showed over 73 per cent of Nigerians opposing the policy of deregulation does not diminish its potency as the only viable option to ensure our economic recovery.

“In spite of the common knowledge that fuel subsidies were excluded from the second half of the 2023 budget, about 73 per cent of Nigerians interviewed in an opinion poll said they were dissatisfied with the removal.

“Nonetheless, this does not detract from the fact that fuel subsidies have become Nigeria’s equivalent of an economic weapon of mass destruction,” he said.

Mr Akinsuji said that the skyrocketing prices of goods and services in the country, especially foodstuffs, cannot be attributed to a single factor alone.

According to him, a combination of factors such as insecurity, currency floating and low production capacity are responsible for the present food crisis.

He said that the allusion that the removal of fuel subsidy had led to the current food crisis may not be entirely correct.

He said that the group’s findings showed that fuel, also known as premium motor spirit, constitutes an insignificant proportion of the cost elements affecting prices of goods in the country.

Mr Akinsuyi said that the depreciation of the country’s currency has made our products cheaper and more attractive to our neighbours, thereby causing a scarcity of such products.

“We should understand that no single factor is responsible for the rising cost of products in the country.

“In the case of rice, it is about insecurity; it is, as a matter of fact, the aftereffects of the devaluation of our national currency, which has made our products cheaper.

“This has attracted high patronage from our West African neighbours who come to Nigeria to purchase rice,” he said.

(NAN)