Deregulate petroleum products before exiting- Ubah urges Jonathan

Deregulate petroleum products before exiting- Ubah urges Jonathan

Chairman and Chief Executive officer of Capital Oil and Gas Industries Limited, Dr. Ifeanyi Ubah, has urged President Goodluck Jonathan not to bequeath regulated fuel price regime to the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, while commending other major oil marketers for joining him to end the fuel crisis in the country.

Ubah had, on Sunday, defied the orders of major oil marketers not to load fuel from any depot until government paid them their outstanding debt. He had opened his tank farms for tankers to load fuel.

Speaking yesterday, he expressed happiness and satisfaction that his bold intervention to save Nigerians from further crisis is what gave rise to the suspension of the strike later yesterday by the oil workers.

“I felt I would be acting irresponsibly to watch Nigerians dying in hospitals, languishing in filling stations without getting fuel to buy and keep quiet. So, I had an obligation as a Nigerian not to allow that situation continue, and I bet you that if I did not make that move, the strike would have been on today,” he said.

Ubah lamented that a situation where hospitals shut down, telecoms threatened to stop operations and power supply crippled should not be tolerated by anyone that meant well for the nation.

His words: “You can understand the extent and enormity of the crisis when even banks threaten to close shop because they don’t have fuel to power their generators since the public power system has also crumbled. So, I felt it a duty as one that operates the largest fuel supply base in Nigeria to turn around the situation.

“By today, I am sure we have already achieved the 13 million litres or 400 truck-loads target and we have product in the jetty and will not stop pumping. I am assuring Nigerians that what we did on Sunday was not a flash in the pan but real action and resolve to make sure the scarcity is defeated. In a few days, it would be over. That is why we call on the president to declare total deregulation even a day to his exit.”

Advocating total removal of fuel subsidy, which he argued does not favour or benefit the common man, he said Nigerians would be surprised that deregulation would rather force down the price of petroleum per litre and assuredly create more job opportunities and bring an end to fuel scarcity finally.

He urged President Jonathan that it would be a great act of patriotism for him to declare total deregulation of petroleum pricing.