Reps-FG: Cancel DSDP contracts to prevent post subsidy crises

By Favour & Akinola Ajibade

The Federal Government should cancel all the Direct Sales Direct Purchase DSDP's  Contracts in order not  to sub-changed the country in the areas of production, lifting and sales of crude, the House of Representatives has said.

The government got this advice following plans by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu's administration to remove petroleum subsidy, a scheme, which has cost the country huge amount of foreign exchange in the last few years. 

According to the lower chamber of the Senate, the advice to cancel fuel subsidy is necessary, if  the government will  cushion the negative effects of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians. 

Speaking on this issue, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee in the green chamber,  Hon. Ibrahim Aliyu, advised the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Committee to organise a reconcillatory meeting between the managements of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited ( NNPCL) Federal Inland Revenue Service ( FIRS), Joint Venture Contractors, JVCs and the Commission on the utilization of their crude entitlements. 

According to him, the government should also introduce intermodal, regional and national transport system to ease mass movement of people across the country, in the event that its finally remove the subsidy. 

Designing,Introducing and Implementing a palliative measures by the government, Aliyu, said, will help in reducing the problems, which accompany the suspension of fuel subsidy in the country. 

The lawmaker stressed that the more than 200 million Nigerian population are going to be relieved of the post subsidy suspension, once the government procure  CNG Busses for them as an alternative Transport System.

He said the buses have low fuel  fuel consumption rates, coupled with the fact that their maintenance is relatively cost effective.

Aliyu, while presenting the copy of his committee's resolution to the house urged the office of the Auditor General for the Federation to conduct a forensic audit on the matter in order to scertain whether the N413billion borrowed from the CBN for subsidy payments was refunded after its passage and further assented to by the President.

Recall that the committee investigated the Petroleum Products Subsidy Regime in Nigeria from 2013 to 2022.

Other recommendations  adopted by the House include: issuance of strict and appropriate regulations of the the Nigerian Midstream Down Stream Petroleum Regulatory Commission segment of the oil industry and protection of Nigerians from short- changed through profiteering among others.

“With the total deregulation of the sector, all the agencies involved in crude lifting/security should have a representative with the Nigeria Navy as a lead agency to physically asses and document daily crude production and lifting, that the Committee also recommends that the Federal Government should as a matter of urgency, liaise with the National Assembly to fashion out critical areas of economic development, which the additional revenue from the proposed subsidy removal will be appropriately utilized, and that given the constrain of the Committee and overlapping events, the National Assembly (HR) Standing or Ad-hoc Committees be saddled with such responsibility to conduct full-scale investigation on the defaulting oil companies and MDAs that have not met the expectations of the Committee to ascertain their level of involvement or otherwise and further protect the commonwealth of the country.”