ABUJA, Federal Republic of Nigeria. Conference of Nigeria Political Parties, CNPP, yesterday asked Federal Government to be more open about its decision on fuel subsidy.
The body said recent pronouncements by Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu has only served to create more confusion that profiteers would explore to unleash hardship on Nigerians.
The conference said the explanation by Dr Kachikwu on how the government wants to modulate price without removing subsidy to achieve the proposed N85 pump price sounded questionable given that he has been oscillating between how subsidy is not being removed and how the same subsidy is not sustainable in view of economic realities on ground.
A statement by CNPP’s Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, warned that the group will not sit by and watch Nigerians suffer on account of a government that failed to properly articulate and think its policy through.
It pointed out that the latest move by the government was reminiscent of the New Year subsidy removal gift under former President Goodluck Jonathan, which Nigerians vehemently rejected.
CNPP said the position announced by the minister tended towards removal of subsidy despite the denials.
“What we found most worrisome is that the Federal Government is tactically implementing fully deregulation of the sector beginning January 1, 2016, without announcing modalities for containing exploitative cabals that could sell petroleum products for four times the global average on account of the concept of free market.
“It is on record that only Abuja and Lagos enjoyed the N87 price while the subsidy lasted as other towns and cities bought petrol for as high as N180 per litre.
“We have not heard the minister said anything about remedying this anomaly that would be further compounded by a deregulated oil industry.
“The template announced by the minster implies a market driven pricing, which is potentially volatile, given the peculiarities of Nigeria and uncertainties on the international scene.
“But we have not also heard how the deregulation would be managed in a way that small and medium businesses that generate their own electricity would be insulated to prevent widespread collapse of businesses.
“CNPP is concerned that low income earners could soon be faced with life threatening choices as they are forced to make decisions between spending all their earnings on transportation and going without food to keep their jobs or to make take other desperate options,” the statement noted.
The conference condemned the inability of government to bring closure to the fraudulent subsidy issue, which it has continued to pay out even as its senior officials acknowledge that there was no need for subsidies. “For the government to have paid out over N1trn this year and for Dr Kachikwu to have emphatically stressed that there was no need to pay subsidy means that there is a level of collusion going on between the government and the subsidy cabal.
“This government has simply continued the subsidy corruption from where its predecessor handed off. Nigerians therefore want a probe of the subsidies paid under the present government.
“The Federal Government must also immediately present plans of how it will protect Nigerians from the fuel cabal since they will naturally shift their attention to extorting the populace once there are no more subsidies,” the conference demanded.
Meanwhile, Kachikwu yesterday said new and official prices of petroleum products would be announced in January, 2016.
Kachikwu, who made this known during an inspection tour of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company, KRPC, said this was imperative in view of the fluctuating marketing trend of crude products.
He explained that the new price could go either way, either above the current selling price or below.
The minister also said the Federal Government is working round the clock to ensure availability and sustenance of the products few weeks from now.
He said further that there was no plan to sell refineries, instead government is working round the clock to ensure that the refineries are working at optimum capacity to satisfy the needs of Nigerians. On the speculated removal of subsidy, he lamented that the amount spent in the past for “political subsidy’ was huge.
He said what the government intends to do was to have some level of moderation with a view to having a stable market.
“With an increase in the prices of crude oil, we will make necessary adjustment; in January 2016 we will announce new prices of petroleum products according to the trend in the market,” he added.
Kachikwu reiterated that the Kaduna refinery is doing well, adding however that more works needed to be done to make it better.
He said the facility is currently producing about 1.5 million litres per day and effort is been made to produce about 2 million litres, adding that no fewer than 30 trucks are being loaded daily from the refinery.
The minister assured Nigerians that the current hardship being faced will soon be a thing of the past.
He added that the queues were gradually disappearing and will completely disappear in a matter of weeks.
Credit: National Mirror (Nigeria)
