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As Nigerians continue to groan over the high cost of fuel, the presidential candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Seyi Makinde, said citizens must get real and measurable benefits from oil produced in the country.
Makinde, who is also the Oyo State governor, stated this at the commissioning of the APM Presidential Campaign Headquarters on Monday in Abuja. He stated that there was a need for transparent pricing of Nigeria’s crude oil.
The presidential hopeful, while speaking on his Reset Nigeria Agenda, said the country needed total transparency in the petroleum industry, stating that Nigerians must know exactly what they are paying for.
According to him, “in the past few days, I have spoken about the petrol pricing framework. Some people have asked whether I am suggesting that we bring back the old fuel subsidy.
“That is not my position. Let me explain my position very simply with this example. If a community grows food, the people of that community should not have to buy that food as though it travelled halfway around the world before reaching them.
“So why should crude oil supplied to Nigerian refineries be priced as though Nigeria does not produce crude oil? Nigeria’s oil must provide a real and measurable benefit to Nigerians.
“That benefit should be built into the system from the beginning, through the price at which crude oil is supplied for domestic refining—not through an opaque intervention at the petrol pump after all the costs, inefficiencies and distortions have been added.
“And Nigerians must be able to see how the final price is reached. We need complete transparency across the petroleum value chain—from production and domestic crude allocation to refining, transportation, distribution, taxes and retail margins. Nigerians should know what they are paying for, who receives what and where inefficiencies are increasing the final price. That is what it means to Reset Nigeria.
“It means that we stop accepting systems that nobody can explain. It means that government must show its workings. It means that Nigerians must know how decisions are made, how public resources are used and who benefits from them. It means that when Nigeria’s wealth grows, the lives of Nigerians must also improve.”
The Oyo State governor stated that he was aware that some people had already dismissed his presidential campaign, noting that such sentiments were not new to him.
“When I first asked the people of Oyo State to entrust me with the responsibility of serving them, many people said I did not stand a chance. They looked at the established political forces, looked at me, and concluded that I could not win. But the people of Oyo State had other ideas.
“So, when they say today that this campaign does not count, I do not take it personally. What they are really saying is that the hopes of millions of Nigerians do not count. They are saying that the market woman struggling with rising prices does not count. That the young person searching for an opportunity does not count. That the farmer, the worker, the small-business owner and every Nigerian who believes this country can be better do not count.
“But we count. Our voices count. Our experiences count. Our ideas count. And, together, our votes will count. That is why Reset Nigeria cannot be a conversation among politicians alone. It must become a conversation in our homes, markets, schools, offices, farms, factories and communities. We want to hear from the trader who struggles whenever transport costs rise,” Makinde stated.
