Adesina had said that the importation and exportation of fuel had a high effect on the lingering fuel crisis because the country did not produce the product locally and the refineries did not work.
In 2017, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina boosted that the country would stop importation and exportation of petroleum products by 2019.
Speaking as a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily, Adesina had said that the importation and exportation of fuel had a high effect on the lingering fuel crisis because the country did not produce the product locally and the refineries did not work, which made room for little hitches in the inflow.
“When you import fuel and do not produce fuel locally or the refineries do not work once in a while fuel scarcity should be expected, as long as you have those variables not under your total control you can’t rule that out,” he said.
The presidential spokesperson explained that the then Minister of State For Petroleum Resources, Dr Ibe Kachukwu, had drawn “a timetable leading to 2019; part of the plan is that Nigeria would stop importing but exporting.”
Concerning the unemployment rate in the country which the National Bureau of Statics released a data saying that unemployment has increased in the 3rd quarter of 2017, Adesina said that there was an increase agricultural sector especially rice farming, mining and solid minerals.
He further explained that shortly after the Buhari-led administration came into power the country entered into recession and oil prices went down but within a year the country came out of recession, he added that as the economy starts to settle gradually jobs that were lost will be regained.