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Former Senate Leader and Senator representing Borno South senatorial district, Ali Ndume has warned sternly that any attempt to remove fuel subsidy will spell doom for the country. Reacting to a motion on “exiting fuel subsidy”, which was sponsored by Senator Rose Oko representing Cross River North Senatorial district, he said the Senate should not do anything near fuel subsidy removal until the nation’s refineries are efficiently working.
            The lawmaker further insisted that NNPC officials should be made to explain the volumes of demand and supply, wondering why the refineries could not work optimally. What we should do is to find out if the existing refineries are working or not. We cannot remove fuel subsidy because we don’t know if the refineries are efficiently working to meet the demand and supply. It is a constitutional responsibility because we have powers to oversight the man in charge of the NNPC. The lawmaker suggested that government should assist those venturing into private refineries, saying: “We have private individuals venturing into private refineries and it is the responsibility of the National Assembly to do all of could to see if government can support them to make sure our refineries are working. Senate should invite the Group Managing Director of NNPC to find out why Nigerian refineries are not working despite collosal amount of money expended on repairs and to also find out what will happen if refineries are working optimally. This will help us to either stop importation of fuel that would eventually end subsidy or not. Please me be clearly recorded that I am against removal of fuel subsidy,” Ndume said.  previous sessions of the National Assembly spent much time deliberating on ways to ending fuel subsidy without success, with the 7th and 8th Senate showing serious concerns on the humongous funds being expended on fuel subsidy.