In his contribution to the debate on the proposed removal of petroleum subsidy, the Speaker of Osun State House of Assembly, Najeem Salaam, has implored the Federal Government to shelve the proposed removal of petroleum subsidy but to fix the nation’s four refineries to work at full capacity in order to cater for local consumption.
Salaam also said any increment in the prices of petroleum products particularly Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), petrol, would bring more hardship to the masses than they are currently facing.
Salaam, who is a member of the National Caretaker committee of the Conference of Nigerian Speakers, said this yesterday at a social function in Ifeodan, Ejigbo Local Government area of the state.
He stressed that the only safety net that is known to the people is plausible reduction in the prices of the petroleum products, subsidy or no subsidy, saying that Nigerians have been traumatized by somersaulted economic policies.
According to him, Nigerians were contending with hunger, malfunctioning infrastructure and epileptic power supply and asked the Federal Government to explore other means of increasing internally generated revenues aside from fuel hike since the country is blessed with different natural resources that could be turned around for substantial income.
He pointed out that economic variables defined in Washington, capital of the United States and Brussels, capital of Belgium, could not work in Nigeria because of the peculiarity of this nation.