Long awaited petrol subsidy removal panic-buying

Fuel shortage appeared to have worsened over the weekend as queues of vehicles were seen at filling stations in Abuja, Lagos, Ondo and Ekiti.
Dr Maikati Baru,Group Managing Director of the NNPC and a crowd at filling station Investigation showed that the shortage was fuelled by the Federal Government’s announcement that it might undertake a gradual phase out of fuel subsidy, which the World Bank said cost Nigeria N731 billion in 2018. 
The Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed, who announced the decision of the Federal Government, was reacting to a recommendation by the International Monetary Fund, IMF, calling on Nigeria to end subsidy on petroleum products. 
At the Conoil and Total stations in the Central Business District, opposite the NNPC Headquarters in Abuja, slight queues were seen while black market operators were seen calling motorists for patronage. 
In Lagos, there were long fuel queues at stations in Maryland and other parts of the city as many people used the weekend to ensure they had adequate supplies. 
Mr. Tayo Aboyeji, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers, NUPENG, South West Chairman, informed Newsmen, in a telephone interview, that the situation was fuelled by panic-buying. 
He said loading was ongoing at all NNPC depots across the country,   indicating that the shortage was not real, adding that consumers should not bother about supply as there was adequate supply to meet demand. 
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Association for Energy Economics, NAEE, says subsidy on petroleum products should end. Addressing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday, ahead of the 12th NAEE/IAEE Conference, the President of the association, Professor Wumi Iledare, argued that the benefit of fuel subsidy in Nigeria is far less than the cost. He said, “I believe that the benefit of subsidy is far less than the cost of subsidy. 
Anytime government has a policy, there is need for that policy to be reviewed to see whether the policy that comes from that policy is more than the cost or whether they are equivalent. “If you look around, the roads are bad, the hospitals are bad, and the infrastructure is not even there. Go and look at the budget for health, education, defence and another, you will see that it is not up to the amount spent on subsidy in 2018. 
“I understand the social unrest is scary, but it is just going to be for a while, if there is enough public education on the benefits of the removal. You are losing the capacity that you have because you are actually giving the products to the elites who are capable of paying for their petrol at a giveaway price.” Iledare further stated that consumption of locally produced energy was imperative for sustainable economic development much more than energy production for rent seeking and rent sharing. 
He also called on the country to rethink its energy resource extraction policy to ensure access to affordable, sustainable and secure energy for all Nigerians.