LCCI Demands Legal Framework for Subsidy Removal

In a statement signed by the Director General of the LCCI, Mr Muda Yusuf, the chamber said that the impact of the reform on the economy would be different now, considering the reality that the market is faced with.

“It is vital to ensure that this new policy direction will be entrenched so that there will be no contemplation of any form of reversal.

“We are aware that similar attempts to undertake this crucial reform in the past have not been successful.

“However, we are confident that in the current dispensation, this will not be the case,” he said.

The LCCI then asked for urgent steps to be taken to back up the reform process with legislative framework that would reconcile the initiative with some already existing laws.

The chamber recommended legislation such as those of the Petroleum Subsidy Fund (PSF), the Petroleum Product Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the Petroleum Equalization Fund (PEF).

“It is imperative to ensure clarity on access to foreign exchange for petroleum marketers to import petroleum products. Operators (who are currently in a quandary on this matter) are eagerly awaiting guidelines from the central bank of Nigeria on this critical aspect of access to foreign exchange for the importation of petroleum products,” the chamber said.

It also commended the NNPC’s pronouncements on the future involvement of the private sector in the operation of the countries abandoned refineries, saying it was an initiative that would ensure that these national assets are put to use for the growth and development of our economy.

The chamber said the advantages the reform of the downstream oil and gas sector would create include the release of resources for investment in critical infrastructures such as power, roads, the rail systems, health sector, education sector and also the unlocking of the huge private sector investment potentials in the downstream oil sector especially in petroleum product refining.

“This will ultimately reduce importation of petroleum products and ease the pressure on the foreign exchange market as well as the burden on our foreign reserves.

“It will eliminate the patronage, rent seeking activities and corruption that currently characterise the downstream oil sector.

“It will create more jobs for the teeming youths of the country in the downstream oil sector as investment in the sector improves,” the chamber said.

The LCCI added that the investment opportunities in the country’s oil and gas sector were huge considering the country’s crude oil reserves and the even bigger prospects in respect of the country’s gas reserves.