The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN)’s president Bayo Olugbemi has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to remove fuel subsidy and fully deregulate the economy. 

Mr Olugbemi stated this on Thursday at the official inauguration of ‘The CIBN Bankers Hall’ at The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

“Unfortunately, Nigeria is the worst hit probably because of our mono-economy, meaning we have only one major revenue earning, which is petroleum products,” said the CIBN president regarding the adverse effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. “Of course, world pricing is a function of what the refined products would be. And as we know, because of the war between Russia and Ukraine, the dollar price of oil is going up and definitely it has to affect the final products.”

He added, “Unfortunately, we are not refining in Nigeria. We have to import using dollars, and that is the reason why the government is giving subsidies.”

Mr Olugbemi urged Mr Buhari’s regime to “diversify the economy and deregulate,” insisting “there shouldn’t be anything called subsidy because, at the end of the day, it doesn’t percolate to you and me.” 

“The people at the top are the ones enjoying it. Government has no business with subsidies. In the long run, it should deregulate the economy fully and ensure there are modular refineries,” explained the CIBN president.

(NAN)