Senate Will Wade Into Fuel Scarcity, Electricity Tariff Hike

The Senator representing Kwara North senatorial district in the National Assembly, Sadiq Umar, has described the current fuel scarcity in the country as worrisome.

Umar said the scarcity has made it imperative for the Senate to review the fuel policy and come up with legislative intervention in its Tuesday sitting with a bid to nip the situation in the bud.

The lawmaker made this disclosure during an interview with LEADERSHIP in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital.

He added that, “we are closely monitoring the fuel subsidy removal and forex single window on how the country will be benefitting from these two policies.

“As a member of the Downstream Petroleum in the National Assembly, we are working towards meeting all stakeholders in the oil sector and understand clearly what are the issues, so that we can get fuel available and make sure that the price is competitive and is fair enough.”

The lawmaker who spoke on fuel subsidy removal and single forex window saying, “The two policies are ultimately the hard pills that must be swallowed by Nigerians for us to move forward as a nation.”

He however attributed the current fuel scarcity to the handiwork of some people with different interests.

He therefore called on Nigerians to be patient with the government, saying that frantic efforts are ongoing by the President Bola Tinubu-led administration to make life more bearable for Nigerians.

“Nigerians should be patient, this is not the first time we are having fuel crisis. We didn’t expect this to come since the oil sector has been liberalised but it is easier said than done because there are other players who have other interests other than what everybody is looking at. But, we (Senate) are monitoring that closely and by the time we resume plenary on Tuesday, we will review the sector.”

He added that Nigerians have accepted that those two policies are hard pills that must be swallowed if the country must move forward.

“We acknowledge the difficulty these two polices have brought, but again, it is also good to say that ‘no pain, no gain’. It is a necessary surgery that has to be performed, that has to come with blood and pain. As government representatives, we are struggling to see how government will make things better for the people by a way of palliative or other measures to lower the pain,” he added.

On the hike in the electricity tariff, Umar hinted that the Senate will organise a public hearing on the matter to either reverse the policy or break it into phases.

“Adding electricity tarrif hike to these two policies will be making life more tougher for the citizens. Electricity is necessary for business, the more the hike, the more the increase in the goods and services and we are really concerned about it as lawmakers.

“As a member of Committee on Power, I’m flying out of Kwara to Abuja for a public hearing on what to be done on this hike in the tarrif in order to unanimously come up with a legislative position on whether to reverse or break it in phases.

“Liberalisation of power generation in this country is the only way to go. Those operating now can’t even meet the 30 per cent of power need of this country, so we have no option than to liberalise, and that has been done.

“As members of National Assembly, our job is to ensure that policies are being implemented along the intended purposes and not allow other business players to take advantage of the policies at the expense of our collective interests,” he added.