CIBN Urges Government to Remove Fuel Subsidies, Deregulate Economy

The Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) has urged the Federal Government to remove subsidies, deregulate the economy fully and ensure there are modular refineries.

This was disclosed by the President of the CIBN, Dr Bayo Olugbemi, on Thursday at the official inauguration of ‘The CIBN Bankers Hall’ at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, according to our correspondent.

He stated that the current global economic crisis has also hit poorer nations like Nigeria harder.

Olugbemi said, “Unfortunately, Nigeria is the worst hit probably because of our mono-economy, meaning we have only one major revenue earning which is petroleum products

“And, 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.

“Unfortunately, we are not refining in Nigeria. We have to import using dollars and that is the reason why the government is giving subsidies; but for me as a person, as an economist, a banker and a financial expert in the long run, the best would be to diversify the economy and deregulate.

“There shouldn’t be anything called subsidy because at the end of the day, it doesn’t percolate to you and I. 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.”