A former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Prof Tam David-West who served when Muhammadu Buhari was the Head of State, has denied saying that President Buhari will crash the price of petrol to N40 per litre, regretting that he must have been misquoted.
This was as he stressed that it was shameful that Nigeria is still involved in importation of petroleum products despite having four refineries capable of meeting the energy needs of the country. He insisted that there is nothing wrong with the nation’s refineries.
The Professor of Virology who spoke to Daily Sun in a telephone interview at the weekend, clarified that he only canvassed the removal of some 14 items currently listed in the petrol pricing template as that which would help crash petrol price to N40.
David-West said some of the 14 items included, Petroleum Equalization Fund, PEF, charges, transporters margin, lithering expenses among other charges, currently contained in the pricing template tend to increase the cost of petrol.
He equally took a swipe at those pushing for sustenance of subsidy regime, saying the scheme was a fraud that should not be encouraged by all Nigerians.
‘‘I signed the contract for the refinery in Port Harcourt in 1985. And I can tell you that there is nothing wrong with our refineries. But the issue is just that some people bent on sabotaging the efforts of government are frustrating plans to ensure that the refineries produce at optimal capacity.”
David-West equally berated proponents of the co-locating of refineries, arguing that such idea was a waste of resources.
‘‘How can you co-locate refineries within the existing refineries that NNPC has tagged as scraps? For you to co-locate refineries, that means the refineries still have value and can be efficient,’’ he said.
