I’m not against fuel subsidy removal – Uba

BY VINCENT UJUMADU
AWKA— CHAIRMAN and chief executive of Capital Oil, Chief Ifeanyi Uba, has debunked insinuation in some quarters that he was among  beneficiaries of the oil subsidy who were opposed to the Federal Government’s planned removal of subsidy, insisting that he was, indeed, in support of the removal.

In an interview with newsmen, Uba argued that the removal of subsidy would liberalize the market and ensure a broad-based participation by those interested in the business.

He explained that as a major stakeholder who had invested in the industry, it was not by narrowing the participation that would make him recover his investment, but by ensuring that  petroleum products were available at all times and at a price every Nigerian could afford.

Uba, whose company currently distributes Kerosene at N50 per liter in the six geo-political zones of the country, accused some people of deliberately sabotaging every effort to ensure that the product got to Nigerians at the official pump price of N50.

He said: “Kerosene is a product of NNPC and as stakeholders, we have been given at at N40.90 for people to sell at N50 per litre. But unfortunately, some people have been inflating the price.

“I want to make it clear that I am not one of those who divert the product. Rather, we are currently distributing the product in all states of the federation and so far, we have covered about 60 percent of the country.”