FORMER Petroleum Minister, Prof. Tam David-West has said it is not enough to expose companies benefiting from petroleum subsidy, they should be made to refund 70 percent of the funds received over the years to government.
Following the Senate revelation of the names of the companies involved in the importation of fuel, David-West said the government has beached Section 16 (2 ) (C) of the 1999 Constitution which forbids concentration of wealth in the hands of a few individuals.
Meanwhile, Speaker of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Alhaji Abdulrazaq Atunwa, has urged the Federal Government to conduct a referendum on the proposed withdrawal of fuel subsidy as a means of obtaining the true flavour of the opinion of the people on the issue.
In an interview with The Guardian in Port Harcourt, David-West who has over the years maintained that fuel subsidy does not exist in the true sense of it, insisted that some persons with vested interest had destroyed the refineries so that they can import refined petroleum products into Nigeria even at the detriment of the economy.
“In 1996, I revealed that the refineries have been sabotaged by a clique. I have been vindicated by the Senate. The breakdown of our refineries is an act of sabotage to create artificial scarcity and milk the economy under the guise of subsidy,” he said. He insisted that the Senate must not stop at the revelation of the names of those who have ripped the country off under the guise of petroleum subsidy, but should demand that they refund 70 percent of all the funds received and the illicit profit made thereof.
David-West who served as Petroleum Minister under the Muhammed Buhari regime, lampooned the government for encouraging the fraudulent concentration of wealth in the hands of a few of their cronies. He also said the Senate should insist that the indicted companies bear 70 percent of the cost of turn around maintenance of the four Nigerian refineries that are presently in the state of disrepair. According to the professor of virology, the over N3 trillion purportedly spent on subsidy would have been enough to build many more refineries in the country.
On the alleged plan by President Goodluck Jonathan to use executive fiat to hike the price of petroleum products by next year, David-West said he lacks such power and the decision would be challenged in court.
He explained that if the sabotaged refineries were working at their installed capacity the country would not be importing fuel and the present administration would have no justification for wanting to tinker with the price of the product which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy.
David-West said it was heartrending for President Jonathan to want to impose World Bank and International Monetary Fund economic prescription on Nigerians. According to him, all efforts would be made by well meaning Nigerians to legitimately resist the unpopular policy.
He advised the President to take a cue from the decision of the House of Representatives which has rejected the proposed removal of petroleum subsidy and realise that Nigerians are vehemently opposed to any sorts of price hike.
“There is nothing like fuel subsidy. You do not remove what does not exist. I have challenged President Jonathan, his Finance Minister and economic team to a debate. I was once a Petroleum Minister. I will sue President Jonathan in court if he removes subsidy and I will get justice for the masses of this country,” he added.
