Saraki questions $78 oil price benchmark.

A member of the Senate Committee on Finance, Senator Bukola Saraki, said on Wednesday that the $78 oil benchmark proposed by the Federal Government for the implementation of the 2015 budget, was unrealistic.

Saraki, who is also the Chairman, Senate Committee on Environment and Ecology, stated this in a statement by him in Abuja.

The Senate Joint Committees on Finance and National Planning, currently  working on the workability of the oil benchmark, had yet to propose a fixed amount.

President Goodluck Jonathan, submitted the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Paper which contained the oil benchmark,  to the upper house, penultimate week.

Saraki, who is a member of the committee, currently scrutinising the document,  challenged the federal government to give full disclosure of the state of the nation’s economy.

The Senator, who was Kwara State Governor for eight years, also  declared that “the nation’s revenue base is caving in under the stress of falling price of oil in the international market.”

He asked the federal government to tell Nigerians the truth about the financial status of the country.

Saraki said, “We have a problem in our hands but not one that cannot be surmounted with the right political will.”
He emphasised the need for a meeting of the National Economic Council to proffer a collective and workable decision on the national contingency and viable benchmark for oil price.

He identified  crude oil theft and  continuing payment of subsidy on kerosene just to enrich some private pockets as part of the problems affecting the nation’s revenue base.

He also asked the federal government to stop indiscriminate  granting of pioneer status to some oil companies  as well as the controversial oil SWAP project of the NNPC if the nation must get out of the looming economic disaster.

He said,“These are trouble times for the Nigerian economy. Our revenue base is caving in under the stress of falling price of oil in the international market.

“Following  the drastic and persistent nature of the fall from  $115 in June this year, it is my considered view that we can’t continue to give the impression that it is business as usual.

“The fact that the free fall in the international oil market price has seen it losing over 25 percent in early June, means that correspondingly, our economy has lost a quarter  of its budget revenue estimates for  the period.

“The fact that oil price continues to fall unabated means that it is not getting better yet and therefore we must now apply the breaks and act fast before they get out of hand.

“This is not the time to paint over the rust, discussions and the choices we make now must be based on economics not politics.

“The current government decision  to put the benchmark for oil price at $78 is inconsistent with the economic trend and attitude of the managers of our economy”

Source: Punch