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Olusegun Osinowo and OmarNECA: protest will weaken economy CNPP to back planned action
Employers have warned of the implication of protests over the planned removal of fuel subsidy.
“Any crisis will worsen the economic situation. You know that salaries are paid from the daily income of the companies – the manufacturers – and it will be difficult for the employers to honour their salary obligations, if businesses are put on hold due to labour protests,” Director General of the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) Mr. Olusegun Osinowo said yesterday.
Osinowo accused the government of failing to carry along workers’ unions over its plan to remove fuel subsidy.
He said: “The government has been crude in giving information on what would happen to the subsidy money. Also, discussions with stakeholders have not been well handled. The government is behaving like a king, sitting on a throne, talking down on his subjects.”
He urged the government to address the issue, “before the bubble bursts.”
The Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) met in Abuja at the weekend and resolved to resist the plan to remove fuel subsidy.
The government has said about N1.3trillion has been spent this year on the subsidy. The cash, it says, will go into rebuilding infrastructure.
But, opponents of subsidy removal insists it will lead to high fuel prices and impoverish Nigerians.
“All we are saying: don’t push us to the street; for we went to the street to make you President and would not like to go to the street to remove you as president!,” CNPP and CSOs told President Jonathan.
According to a statement signed by CNPP National Publicity Secretary Osita Okechukwu, they added: “All we are saying: build new refineries; for if you don’t have confidence that Nigerians can manage refineries, we don’t have confidence that you can manage the withdrawal proceeds!
“All we are saying: stop the rampant corruption in fuel importation before removing the fuel subsidy! All we are saying: if you can’t stop rampant corruption in fuel importation, you cannot guarantee the proceeds to be withdrawn!
“All we are saying: removal of fuel subsidy is a road Nigerians have passed severally since 1978! All we are saying: the serial promises made were broken and the pains of serial removal of fuel subsidy have remained permanent!
“All we are saying: strident call on all patriots to join the mother of mass action!
“We resolved also to work in league with the Nigeria Labour Congress, Trade Union Congress and other patriots to resist the inordinate resolve of President Jonathan against public will to remove Fuel Subsidy.”
The NLC will meet tomorrow to take a stance on the planned fuel subsidy removal.
Yesterday, NLC Head of Information Chris Uyot urged Nigerians to prepare for a strike, should the government remove the subsidy. He also criticised the government’s 2012 budget proposal.
He described the exclusion of fuel subsidy in the budget as tragic. “Thus, the Nigerian people will have no choice but to confront this challenge,” Uyot said, adding:
“We call on all Nigerian workers and people to begin preparation for a general strike and mass protests. The people must be prepared in the next few weeks when the Jonathan administration begins to implement its anti-Nigerian policy. Nigerians should prepare to occupy the streets and public institutions to prevent them from being taken over by anti-patriotic forces,” the NLC added.
Former Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) Vice-Presidential candidate Pastor Tunde Bakare yesterday criticised President Jonathan for planning to remove fuel subsidy .
He said the Federal Government is creating confusion by not considering the effect of the planned action on the people.
The cleric, who is the founder of the Latter Rain Assembly, Ikeja, Lagos, addressed the congregation on the danger of fuel subsidy removal on Nigerians.
He disagreed that the Government has been subsidising the cost of fuel, adding: “What government is doing is subsidising the alternative cost of production.
“It is an idiotic choice to continue to import fuel due to the refusal to turn around the country’s refineries. What is required is 66 per cent working capacity of the refineries. President Jonathan, like Jeroboam, is pursuing anti-people policies in readiness for a mass revolt”.
Urging the President to emulate Nehemiah, who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, Bakare advised those in power to refrain from imposing unnecessary burden on the people.
The Federal Government and other stakeholders have been urged to build more refineries, since the existing four cannot supply the required refined petroleum products.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) Prof. Joseph Ajienka, spoke in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, at the weekend.
There are two refineries in Port Harcourt; one in Warri, in Delta State; and another one in Kaduna.
Ajienka noted that there was need for the quick passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which could not be passed by the last National Assembly.
A former President of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), Mr. Bobo Brown, said the planned removal of fuel subsidy is a trap that would hasten President Jonathan’s removal.
A member of the Board of Treasure Energy Resources, Dr. Joe Ellah, urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on refineries’ construction, saying they must not be done on a large scale.
He called for the scrapping of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), accusing it of awarding contracts to marketers.
He said crude oil should be refined locally, adding that the Offshore Processing Scheme (OPS) of crude oil should be revisited.
They spoke at a Roundtable on Petroleum Subsidy organised by the Emerald Institute of Energy Economics, Policy and Strategic Studies of UNIPORT.
Ajienka said: “Queues are building up. We may buy fuel (petrol) at N140 per litre. Nigeria does not have refining capacity. We must consider short, medium and long term solutions, most important of which are building of more refineries and passage of PIB.
“Refined petroleum products should be readily available throughout Nigeria. We should not be depending on importation of fuel.”
The General Leader and Chairman of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church (Ayo Ni O), Surulere, Lagos District headquarters, Lagos, Prophet Gabriel Olubunmi Fakeye, has urged President Jonathanh to apply appropriate sanctions on those who have helped themselves with the proceeds from oil subsidy.
Speaking at the 21st Interdenominational Christmas/Carol service at the headquarters of the church, the cleric noted that the planned action has generated heated debates at the National Assembly and among Nigerians.
He said: “The planned removal of oil subsidy at this point may not be good for us. But there in no time the subsidy will not be removed. If our refineries are working well, we won’t need subsidy.
“I commend President Jonathan who changed his mind not to remove fuel subsidy in January as he promised but let us hope that we will be a better country than this in the nearest future.I also advise government to apply appropriate sanctions to the beneficiaries of the oil racket.
SOURCE: The Nation, 19 December 2011. http://www.thenationonlineng.net
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