 Well, I'm going to begin with you Comrade Balazaka. What was your first reaction to the news of the suspension of the removal of fuel subsidy by the federal government? Are there any positives or negatives? I really appreciate it. I don't know what the definition of subsidy is. Well Comrade, I'm not sure we can hear you clearly so I'm just going to direct the question to the Chairman of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria. Mr Olumide, I'm sure you can hear me. I can hear you loud and clear. Can you hear me? So what was your first reaction to the news of the suspension of the fuel subsidy removal? I think that I had the reaction of a lot or a lot a few more people before I had the opportunity to form mine. I got a lot of concerned messages from my constituency, the major marketers, as well as associated or prospective members of Moment who are disappointed with the news. But my personal view is that actually the grave things we have done would have been for this administration to deregulate on its way out, making and creating an easier pathway for the President-elect and his team. But in the absence of that, I suppose the next best thing is for us to see how high up the priority, which it must be, it is along the new administration's priority list. I'm sure you know that there have been calls for fuel subsidy. Don't you think there are any positives or negatives? So in terms of positives, I guess as a nation we get to buy petrol at a very discounted price. For those of us that are able to afford it, that's even better news. I think for the common man, the average Nigerian who's impacted by this, it's also good news. What we have to think beyond the present, this is really the issue, is that we have been on the verge of this thing for a very long time. The other piece of good news, I suppose, the other positive out of it, and I've been very sarcastic here, is that our neighbours will also enjoy it because they'll get to buy petrol that's subsidised by the Federal Republic of Nigerian citizens. What we really need to focus on is how best to get this done. We're talking about putting in the plans ahead of time. Well, those plans, we have been talking about this for quite some time. As I said that the recently completed NIES, the operators are ready, the industry is ready, the stakeholders are ready. We have even proposed some very easy to implement solutions that are means tested and targeted at individuals, people, the community groups that need the subsidy the most. So it's mixed reactions. There are positives, there are negatives from a Nigerian point of view. I'm afraid it's mostly negative that we are pushing this out. I'm hoping we could hear Mr Balazaka clearly now. I'm going to direct the next question to you. According to the Minister of Finance, Board of National Planning, the next administration has a decision to make on the matter, and of course the President-elect has said subsidy will be removed. What's your take on this? I think I'm just going to push the question back to you, Mr Olumidi. Let's have your take on this. Look, it's, I think it's kind of bleeding to the previous question. They said it's going to be done. We hope it's high up on their priority list of things to be done. It's a matter that is obviously urgent for the future of Nigeria, and it's only that needs to be taken very seriously as a matter of priority. All right. Nigerians, particularly the labor unions, have over time resisted the removal of field subsidy with protests. And of course, we all remember the big protests that had Professor Shoika, Mr Femi Falano, and a host of others rejecting the removal. Don't you think we are hoped for more trouble? Yeah. I mean, big decisions are always tough to make, right? There will be pockets of resistance in most of these things. I think it's important to say that more than anybody else, my constituents, the major marketers, the operators, the depo associations, as we understand the plight of Nigerians, and we are, we are very much focused on how we will help to alleviate it. But the truth of the matter is that if you look at the way this matter has been presented, petrol is not the only thing that's keeping the underprivileged in penury, right? There are food issues that I don't see people that are going up in arms about that there is something quite political about fuel. And I think if these people are honest and truly genuinely honest with themselves, they will appreciate that actually the fuel that we use, that the working fuel, the working man's fuel is diesel, because that's what is used to push public transport. It's what the wagons that take food stock up and down the country's use. Petrol is really the reserve of smaller volume transporters, and there are provisions that can be made for that, as well as as well as private citizens. And by Nigerian standards, you know, if you have a car that you're using for transportation, that's one thing. But if you have a car that you use either because of a privilege of office or because you can afford one, then you really are in the upper percentile of the citizens of this country. And therefore, there must be an obligation to pay some or all of what that petrol actually costs to deliver to you. I'm hearing we have Balazaka back on the line. Mr. Balad, just coming to you, what was your first reaction to the news of the first subsidy, the suspension of the removal? Well, the first thing I did was I appreciated the government for reasoning with the voices of the minorities like me, because if you look at it, a lot of the people that are staying remove subsidies on the only remaining product, which is Petrol, if you ask them the definition of subsidy, what do you mean? They don't know. If you ask them the difference between deregulation and liberalization, they don't know. If you ask them the difference between commercialization and privatization, they don't know. If you ask the same people that, okay, before subsidy was removed on the price of a diesel, it was $89 per liter. And we were told then that once subsidy was removed, investors were going to come in, they were going to the competition, and the price of diesel was going to go down to lower than $80 per liter. So then, diesel is almost $780 or $800 per liter. Where are the investors? If you ask them, they don't have the answer. Before the price of aviation fuel was increased and subsidy was removed. We knew what the cost of flight was. Today, go to the aviation sector and see. You will only see mass attacks. You will see serious delays. We are only lucky that we've not experienced airline crashes. And on this diesel, put me, go to manufacturers and see. All the strategic industrial sectors have collapsed. Strategic domestic sectors have collapsed. Strategic commercial sectors have collapsed. That is why you go to banks now. They open banks at eight o'clock, before three o'clock. They will shut down because, I mean, they cannot afford diesel. And they have made big mistakes. People are doing what some of those proponents. If you look at them closely, all they are asking, they want Nigeria to keep importing. Want to talk to them and see whether major marketers, minor marketers, or whatever. They have forgotten that one thing about subsidy is this. You graduate out of subsidy. I mean, look at all the opaque nations, as I speak to you. Nigeria is a member of opaque. Mention one opaque country that is having the kind of issues we are having with petrol. One. And if some of them put the prices of liters of petrol in diesel in those countries, ask them how much the minimum wage is in those countries. In the context of Nigeria, a minimum wage today, monthly minimum wage is about 30,000 Nigerian naira. 30,000 Nigerian naira cannot buy one bag of rice. 30,000 Nigerian naira cannot buy a 50-liter jenikan of diesel. And that is the kind of country you are telling you want to remove subsidy. They don't even know the meaning of subsidy. Oh, well, I'm sure the chairman of the major oil marketer's association, head vote, Mr. Balazaka, said, what's your reaction to what he said? I'm actually not quite sure where to start, because if I listen to Mr. Zaka, Nigeria is a microclimate and nothing that's happening in the rest of the world means anything. I listened to, there was a lot in there to be quite frank, and I don't think any of it was really addressing the issue. The truth of the matter is that diesel, if you cannot compare diesel to petrol, as a country we consume three billion liters of diesel, right, a year, and we consume an increasing 20 billion liters and rising of PMS a year. So you can't compare the two products at all. Again, the people that drive cars in Nigeria really are people that should not be subsidized. The amount of petrol that NMPC is importing is increasing because much of this product does not stay in Nigeria. So who are we subsidizing? Who is he fighting for? Really, we need to, and I don't want to set up a debate directly with Mr. Balazaki. I was really hoping that this would be a conversation with the people of Nigeria. So I mean, I've heard what he said, but I stand behind everything I have said. The weather one, if you understand, if you recognize I've never used the word subsidy. Really, this is about deregulation. This is about government taking its hands out of private enterprise and letting private enterprise design, the PIA provides very clearly for what the role of government should do be. It also creates agencies such as the FCCPC, the Federal Consumer Protection Agency, to protect the rights of consumers. So there are enough safeguards in there. Within the Act, it has been contemplated for over 20 years. It addresses all of these issues. So I agree with the Minister of Finance when she says that the preparation needs to happen. We cannot move until we have the preparation done. Otherwise, we'll end up with the same fiasco as we did with the currency. But whether we're going to move on deregulation or not, that's not subject to debate unless you're living under a rock and you have no interest in the progress of Nigeria as an economic force in Africa and the world. Okay, so back to you, Vala. You heard what Iya said. Please just wait. Let me quickly respond because I had some of the points he made. Okay. And I respect that my colleague, even though I don't know his name, but I respect him. But this is what I want to say. The reason why we are spending so much or we are consuming so much petrol is because there is no electricity. So most of the petrol people are buying is to run generators. And when he is saying we are, most of the people using cars are not the people we are supposed to be subsidizing. That is a big mistake many people are making. The fact that you see somebody being called a commissioner or minister does not mean that if you see him riding a car, all his relations are doing well. When I was in Pottaikot, most of the people who became commissioners and governors, in the evening they go to rural and local areas, those are the places their parents are and those were the places they were sent before they got the political appointment. So as long as this is a country of 200 million citizens and you are having less than 10,000 megawatts of electricity, there is no way citizens will not be looking for other sources of energy. And that is why you can see somebody can buy 25 liters of jerry can of petrol and use it for a week in his house. But because of lack of electricity, that person will buy about 100 liters to run generators. And because it is because they cannot afford diesel and let it also address that area, they are saying, who are you subsidizing? That is another big mistake. Most of the people using petrol today, I can tell you they don't even have cars. They don't have cars. But by the time you refuse to give them petrol to run those small generators, like in computer villages, to run their business centers, to run their bargain saloons, and you need just to give them, they cannot afford diesel. But the time you make the price of petrol so high and they become criminals and arm-robbers, can Nigeria be able to handle it? And another question I want to ask, why are they insisting on Nigeria to keep importing? Why can't we fight the economic vampires that are making the system not to work? Hello, hope you enjoyed the news. Please do subscribe to our YouTube channel and don't forget to hit the notification button so you get notified about fresh news updates.