Nigerians warn the Federal Government not to overburden us with fuel subsidies

More reactions emerged yesterday, condemning the Federal Government’s plan to remove petroleum subsidies and replace them with a N5,000 transportation subsidy for 40 million Nigerians, as announced last week. Bishop Francis Wale Oke, President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), warned the government against exacerbating people’s problems by removing subsidies.

Oke, who is also the presiding Bishop of The Sword of the Spirit Ministries, issued a statement through his media office warning that the implementation of such policy would exacerbate the hardships that citizens are already facing.

The cleric bemoaned the fact that prices of consumables and other items were rising out of reach of the people, warning that removing the proposed subsidy would exacerbate the country’s hardship.

“An increase in the price of gasoline from its current N165 to N340 per litre can cause tension and crises in the country, which can paralyze our economy if not handled with extreme caution,” he said.

“Everyone will feel it, especially the less fortunate.” The negative consequences will undoubtedly outweigh the benefits. The cost of transportation for people and goods across the country will skyrocket, as will the cost of other things connected, causing a spiral effect on the population’s overall living standard; the suffering will be multi-dimensional. Please make all stakeholders aware of this avoidable path and take the necessary steps.”

He lamented that the situation had deteriorated due to a decrease in Nigerians’ purchasing power as a result of the country’s currency’s continuous depreciation on the exchange market.

As a result, he urged the government to do everything possible to revive the country’s four ailing refineries, with the goal of ensuring that they operate at peak efficiency for the country’s and people’s long-term benefit.
Dr. Samson Ayokunle, the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), also urged the Federal Government to engage stakeholders before withdrawing the subsidy.

He stated this at the retirement service of CAN National Vice President Rev. (Dr.) Caleb Ahima, who stepped down as President of the Christian Reform Church of Nigeria (CRC-N) at the church’s headquarters in Taraba State, yesterday.

“The government needs to engage labor and other stakeholders,” Ayokunle said. We all know how much food costs in the market, and we all know that there is no raise in pay, so a lot of people may struggle to make ends meet.”

In a similar vein, the Anglican Communion’s Enugu Ecclesiastical Province has rejected the government’s proposal to completely eliminate fuel subsidies and pay N5,000 palliative payments to 40 million Nigerians. The church called the government proposal a disgrace to Nigerian sensibilities and asked President Muhammadu Buhari to drop the idea.

The church also stated that due to hyperinflation, the value of the naira has become more or less useless, noting that even the Federal Government’s introduction of e-naira will not be able to save the devalued currency.

Rev. Dr. Emmanuel Chukwuma, Archbishop of Enugu Province, stated this during a media briefing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Enugu Diocese from the Diocese of Niger in 1970.

Chukwuma said the outbreak of Coronavirus prevented the Diocese from celebrating its 50th anniversary last year, despite the fact that it had continued to grow spiritually and in terms of infrastructure. He urged state governments to return Anglican schools that the government had taken over to the Catholic Church in the same way that the Catholic Church had returned mission schools to the Catholic Church in states like Enugu.

The Catholic Church’s Knights of St. Mulumba of Nigeria have urged the Federal Government to postpone its plan to completely eliminate subsidies for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) next year so that the country does not descend into chaos. According to the Knights, the country has already experienced enough insecurity, hunger, and unemployment in recent years, so subsidy removal should be the absolute last resort.

At the 42nd Supreme Council Convention in Asaba, Delta State, yesterday, their leader, Sir Diamond Ovueraye, supported by his Secretary, Sir Prof. Fabian Obi, and six others, said the removal will further dwindle the nation’s economy and multiply hunger among citizens.

Overall, the government should do the right thing by “fixing our refineries and building more in such a way that instead of importing fuel, we can generate enough to sell across the border to other countries to generate more foreign revenue,” according to the report.

Meanwhile, the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has chastised labor union leaders, including the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), for taking a timid stance against the government’s bad economic policies. The group promised to lead an anti-fuel subsidy protest, accusing labor leaders of representing their own personal interests rather than those of workers and citizens.

In a statement issued yesterday by its Secretary-General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the CNPP said it was ready to lead the anti-subsidy fight, emphasizing that Nigerians must be willing to take control of their own destiny.

“What the government wants to do is fuel price increment, not subsidy removal,” Ezwugu said, accusing the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Federal Government of being deceitful in implementing the subsidy regime.

“It is disheartening that the labour unions have joined the APC-led government in its deceitful and manipulative tendencies,” he said.

“Before winning the election in 2015, the APC convinced Nigerians that fuel subsidies did not exist and that they were a scam. However, as soon as they won the election, the government increased the price of gasoline at the pump.

“In May 2016, the Federal Government announced that the fuel subsidy had been removed and that petrol would now cost N145 per litre. In fact, the NNPC misled Nigerians into believing that marketers were free to bring in fuel cargoes and sell them as long as they met quality standards.

“However, in keeping with the government’s deceptive nature, the NNPC insisted on a benchmark of N145 per litre as a recommended pump price. If you’re sincere, do you remove subsidies while also dictating or suggesting prices?

“This cycle of deception has continued to this day, as the government has hinted at yet another fuel price hike, which it has once again dubbed the removal of fuel subsidies. How many times is the government going to cut fuel subsidies?

“The same labor union leaders who were involved in the earlier negotiations are now negotiating with the Federal Government in another round of personal enrichment, while Nigerians are expected to pay N340 per litre of petrol at a time when cooking gas is already out of reach of the average citizen.”

“It’s laughable that the Federal Government’s only consolation is a cash transfer of N5,000 to a few Nigerians, which government officials will inevitably siphon into private pockets like the COVID-19 conditional cash transfer.”

“The CNPP stands ready to lead Nigerians whenever they want to put an end to the government’s subsidy removal deception in collusion with labor leaders,” the statement continued.

The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has also rejected a proposal to eliminate fuel subsidies entirely and compensate 40 million Nigerians with a palliative payment of N5,000 each.

The group urged Nigerians to oppose any plan to raise pump prices further, claiming that doing so would result in an astronomical increase in the cost of goods and services, with a knock-on effect on Nigerian children’s education.

The government used the promise of 5,000 palliatives to deceive uneducated Nigerians into accepting the removal of fuel subsidies, according to ASUU President Prof. Victor Emmanuel Osodeke, who revealed this in an interview with The Guardian.

“Nigerians should not accept the removal of fuel subsidies,” he said. The fear is that only a few, if any, people will be paid at the end of the day.

“The so-called fuel subsidy serves only to enrich a small number of people.” How will these 40 million Nigerians be identified? Has the so-called 774,000 people they promised jobs to materialized after more than two years?” Osodeke inquired.

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He insisted that if Nigeria could afford to subsidize petrol at the pump for N2.4 trillion, what was stopping it from investing half of that amount in refineries?

“What the government should do is sit down with academics and build refineries,” says the author. We don’t need foreign investors to build refineries in our country. We can get engineers from our universities to help build refineries at a low cost to Nigerians, and that is the way to go.

“The Niger Republic no longer imports fuel; instead, it refines its own and even supplies some parts of Nigeria.” Does it seem reasonable that, despite our country’s expertise, we continue to import fuel?”

He went on to say that the education sector is already in crisis, and that rising fuel prices will have an impact on transportation costs.

“How will a man’s children go to school if he earns N30,000 per month?” How will a teacher with a monthly salary of N15,000 feed his family? These are the issues that we should be thinking about as a country,” he said.