The lingering crisis arising from subsidy payment can be addressed with adequate and accurate data on the different levels of consumption of the petroleum products across the country, Ayodeji Ogundiran has informed.
Ogundiran, who is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Fuelmetrics Incorporated, a technology-driven company with major focus on oil and gas, while speaking in an exclusive chat with our correspondent at the weekend, lamented that it is shocking to know that a country as big as Nigeria cannot accurately tell what volume of fuel her citizens consume today.
“Today, you’re hearing 50 million litres tomorrow, it’s a different thing entirely. And the more subsidy the government is paying, the larger volume of consumption.”
According to him, “The reality is that Nigeria is not just subsidising for its citizens, it subsidises for all of its neighbours. As well. People simply buy products from depots in Lagos and take it to border countries like Benin Republic, where fuel is selling for twice our local price. Nigeria’s fuel price is about the cheapest in the world.”
While noting that government may have genuine reasons not to want to embark on subsidy removal just yet, the ICT expert however assured that the solution to address this challenge arising from subsidy payment can be addressed with homegrown technology.
“Probably, the government has certain data to say we can do this now or we cannot do this yet. But we have engaged and done proof of concept and showed them that it works. Every agency of the government that is concern about this issue is aware of what we are able to do. I believe one day soon, the government will wake up and say it is time for us to do the right thing. The right thing is actually for the government to say we need data for the operation of every station. There is an act that says government must get data from every station.
“However, the government doesn’t have that manpower. And this is 2022, they don’t need much manpower, what they need is technology. Our clients sit in their head offices and know what is going on across all of their stations. So, there is nothing stopping the country from saying we want to know what’s going on across the country. Believe me, when that happens, the amount the government is paying on subsidy is going to reduce by as much as 60 per cent.”
The Nation
