By Haruna Salami
The Civil Society Organisations and Professionals drawn from various parts of the country have insisted on the removal of fuel subsidy, saying the regime was partly responsible for the economic woes of the country.
The group in a communique after a one day national town hall Sunday on “removal of fuel subsidy”, in Abuja said fuel subsidy, which has existed for decades has been without transparency and accountability, a development that has caused the federal government to spend a whopping sum of N250 billion monthly.
The communique which was signed by Isah Abubskar, National Chairman of the group and Joe Moses (Secretary) and made available to journalists on Monday said the town hall meeting observed that the removal of fuel subsidy regime as planned would facilitate the implementation of the 2022 national budget of N17.13 trillion.
“The Coalition of Civil Society Organisations and professionals drawn from various parts of the country met on Sunday 9th January, 2022 for a “National Town Hall Meeting on Removal of Petroleum Subsidy”.
“The National Town Hall Meeting on Removal of Petroleum Subsidy has observed that the petroleum subsidy regime which has existed for decades has been without transparency, credibility and accountability in the process leading to payments of claims to the so-called beneficiaries of the arrangement.
“The town hall meeting observed that the payment of over N250 billion monthly has done serious damage to the economy and for decades, the financial burden has retarded the growth and development of the country and if the trend is not reversed, it would continue to drain the nation’s revenue until the economy would have been irrevocably damaged”.
The CSOs noted that subsidy was responsible for fuel smuggling across the borders, arguing that, if it is ended, the smuggling challenge would reduce, adding that the subsidy should be completely removed to allow fresh breath in the country.
“Petroleum subsidy is responsible for fuel smuggling to neighbouring countries, such as Benin Republic, Niger, Chad and Cameroon. The situation would abate to a large extent, if the fuel subsidy regime is abolished and would also strengthen availability of fuel in the downstream sector of the economy.
“That the Town Hall Meeting supports absolute removal of fuel subsidy and the funds in the tune of N250 billion be channeled into development of infrastructure across the country.
“The meeting also noted and commended the Nigeria National Petroleum Limited for the construction of 28 Federal Roads across the Federation” adding that “roads are critical infrastructure, hence, if the ongoing roads are completed, the NNPC should, as a matter of policy continue to plough funds into reconstruction and rehabilitation of category ‘A’ roads so as to enhance economic development of the country.
While it commended the NNPC management for the implementation of the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021, the group urged the continuous reforms to reposition the oil and gas industry as one of the best in the world.”
They urged the FG to ensure maintenance and rehabilitation of the government refineries in order to meet the local fuel consumption in the country.
“The town hall meeting throw its weight behind the management of the Nigeria National Petroleum Subsidy Limited under the leadership of the Group Managing Director, Mele Kyari for the systematic implementation of the Petroleum Industrial Act (PIA). It further called for continuous reforms that would see the upstream and downstream petroleum sector being the best in the world.
“The meeting further resolved that the Refineries in Port harcourt and Kaduna be reactivated and upgraded to be able to refine fuel at an optimum operations for local consumption and given that the country heavily depends on the oil as its monolithic economic mainstay, the NNPC should continue to roll out policies that would keep the petroleum sector streaming.”
On the palliative, the group tasked the federal government to ensure payment to citizens, saying that it will cushion the effect of the subsidy removal, while they also urged the Nigeria Labour Congress not to embark on industrial action, but to allow dialogue.
“That the planned palliative by the Federal government to the citizens in the circumstance that the fuel subsidy regime is fully scrapped is a noble idea, as it would mitigate hardships occasioned by the removal of subsidy that may probably trigger difficulties in the cost of transportation, even as it was further identified that the NNPC should ensure availability of fuel across sales stations and effective fuel price control mechanisms until the shock is curtailed.
“The Town Hall meeting also urged the organised labour to shelve the intended mass protest in the event that the subsidy is removed, given that the nation stands to benefit rather than some oil cartels that have been benefitting from the regime for several years now. Instead, the NLC and other allied labour organisations should engage in objective dialogue with the Federal government.
“That the Group Managing Director of NNPC, Mr Mele Kyari be commended for the courage in the reformation of the NNPC which has seen the country survived the economic meltdown occasioned by the COVID-19 global pandemic and other factors militating against the wellbeing of the country”.
