Written by Simon Utebor
President Goodluck JonathanFileA federal lawmaker Mr. Abiodun Faleke, has said the planned removal of fuel subsidy by the government is not yet backed by the constitution.
Faleke stated this during the presentation of N32m worth of items, including auto rickshaw (Keke Marwa), rice and sewing machines as part of his poverty alleviation/empowerment programme for his constituents in Lagos on Thursday.
According to the lawmaker, who represents Ikeja Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives, Section 51 of the constitution is clear on imposition of taxes, levies or revenues, stressing that any of such not backed by law is illegal.
He said, “On subsidy removal, well the budget is already before us in the House of Representatives. I can assure Nigerians that we will put back the fuel subsidy into the budget.
“Nigerians are against it and we are against it. I can assure Nigerians that we will not allow poverty to rise. Subsidy removal is going to be a calamity in this country.
“The constitution is very clear. Section 51 of the constitution is very clear. You cannot impose taxes, levies or revenue not appropriated or backed by law. The issue is that we have the budget before us and we will treat the budget the way it should be and we will put back subsidy into the budget.
“It is the only thing I can say Nigerians are actually benefiting from. It is the only welfare package for Nigerians. We strongly believe that the government should maintain it and look for other methods of generating funds.”
The Chairman of the House Committee on Anti-Corruption said there was the need to create awareness in the fight against corruption in the country.
Faleke said corruption would no longer be “a business as usual”, assuring Nigerians that the lawmakers would certainly carry out their oversight functions to stamp out corrupt practices.
On review of the constitution, he said his expectations were to ensure that it represented the interests and wishes of the people of Nigeria, saying they were a lot of grey areas in the constitution
SOURCE: Punch, 23 December 2011. http://punchontheweb.com/
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