Member of the National Assembly representing Akoko Edo Federal constituency in Edo State, Hon Peter Akpatason, on Saturday came down heavily on the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, (CBN),? Mallam Lamido Sanusi Lamido, and described his economic policy as epileptic even as he accused him of dabbling into matters he knew nothing about.
The former President of National Union of Petroleum and National Gas Workers, (NUPENG), who spoke at the occasion of the 40th anniversary of ‘Brodas Across Nigeria’ annual conference in Benin, the Edo State Capital, call for an Independent body to propose and appropriate acceptable oil Bench mark just as he said the conference with theme “Across tribe and Tongue” was timely.
“Actually, I m not too comfortable with Mallam? Sanusi’s policies. So, when people keep referring to him, it does not give me any sense of belonging as a Nigerian. Sanusi is one of the worst economists that we have in this country, he has not been able to manage the Central Bank very effectively, he keeps dabbling into matters that he does not have the authority to go into.
?“It is not his responsibility to tell Nigerians which commission should determine the benchmark, we have the power of appropriation, we are to manage the resources of this country through appropriation and the legislators will continue to do just that irrespective of what he wants as an individual.
?“He spoke for himself and he represents himself, we represent the people and he does not hold water as far as I m concern.”
While expressing concern over the regular scarcity of petroleum Products in the country, he blamed it on political manipulation and vindictiveness in the oil sector.
?“The truth of the matter is that it is possible to have 12 months without fuel scarcity but because of political manipulation, we keep having these issues from time to time. As it is now, there is the issue of fuel scarcity probe which is a patriotic attempt to sanitise the oil and gas industry and to get Nigerians to reap the full benefits of the product.
“But, unfortunately, some people are not happy with the system. Also, the process is managed in such a way that there are some elements? of vindictiveness? and so these people feel that if that is the way you want to go we will withdraw.”
?“Thirdly the banks are no longer given loan facilities to the companies that are being probed. Now these are the companies that are bringing in products. As we speak, it is only NNPC that is importing products, the private players are not importing, either because they don’t want to import or they don’t have the capacity to import because they cannot get the finances.
?“In addition to this, there is also the problem of a deficit of facilities in the country. You know, recently,? three NNPC engineers were murdered in cold blood and up till now no response from the security agencies and NNPC workers are not happy about that and as we speak the pipelines have not been mended and so if the pipelines have not been mended how do you bring in products from the high sea? So, there will continue to be problem of deficit in product availability.” he added.
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