By Olugbenga Salami
Removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Tuesday has been commended by the Civil Society Organisations, CSO and many professionals from various parts of the country.
Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Wednesday, the National chairman of the group, Isah Abubakar noted that federal government was spending N1.243 trillion monthly as fuel subsidy, saying the economy will collapse, if the regime is not ended.
Abubakar, who was flanked by the General Secretary, Joe Moses and other top executives, explained that petrol otherwise known as premium motor spirit, PMS, was still sold at N600/litre across the country, despite the subsidy regime.
He said the sum of N1.243 trillion being fuel subsidy cost was not in the nation’s budget for 2023.
The group believed this was being driven by few questionable merchants whose monolithic line of business is “fuel subsidy”, can be plough back into the economy.
It lamented that the pillage of resources in the guise of fuel subsidy has taken too long, thereby making the scam looks like a mystery.
More worrisome, the group maintained, was the lack of transparency, accountability and probity, stating that it was only a nation like Nigeria that can tolerate such humongous financial haemorrhage amid poverty, lack and starvation of the citizens.
It further described removal of the “decade of fuel subsidy”, as an “action of the new sheriff in town”, which undoubtedly is in the interest of Nigerians and for the development of the country.
Asking for the understanding of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC and other organised bodies, the CSO expressed optimism that they would be a paradigm shift from the past under President Tinubu in terms of economic outflows of the country.
It cautioned the NLC not to embark on strike or made themselves available for oil cabals to be used against the new government, adding that “dialogue remains the potent form for settling differences.”
“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.
“As at 2022, the Federal Government of Nigeria pay out N1.243 trillion as fuel subsidy monthly. In a normal society, this should be unacceptable to the government and the citizens.
“The so-called fuel subsidy regime has not mitigated the economic woes of the nation, even as consumers buy fuel a high price of N600 per litre,” it stressed.
To sustain the policy of subsidy removal, the CSO urged President Tinubu to rejig the nation’s borders and tackle fuel smugglers to the neighbouring countries.
