The Ohanaeze Youth Council led by Mazi Okwu Nnabuike has thrown its weight behind the removal of the fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu.
Addressing a press conference in Enugu Monday, Mazi Nnabuike, however, urged
the new administration to probe into the spendings on the refineries in the past eight years.
“It should also take a step further in unravelling the fraud called subsidy. This is one of the ways the government will earn public trust and confidence as it goes on with the task of reshaping the country’s economy.
“Having said this, we also want to observe that we view the opposition to the removal of subsidy by the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, with huge suspicion. We are not unaware of the harsh economic realities occasioned by the subsidy removal, but the truth is that judging by antecedents, we don’t trust the labour unions in the country.
“On several occasions, they have failed the masses when it mattered most. Under the immediate past administration of Buhari, they always started a fight but chickened out at the last minute, leaving the masses to their fate. Nothing has changed- they are at it again this time, trying to use the subsidy removal to cash out as usual. But our stand is that they should stop deceiving the gullible public; all of us cannot be fooled at the same time.
“Besides, the independent marketers and the NNPCL are even the worst enemies of the citizens. We find it rather strange that a few hours after President Tinubu announced that the subsidy was gone, they promptly adjusted their pump price to over N500.000. Isn’t this the same subsidy that was budgeted for till the end of June?
“Why are the citizens now being taxed twice? So where is the money budgeted for subsidy for this month of June? The NNPCL and the independent marketers should answer this question. We urged the Tinubu government to also include this scope as it probes all the fraudulent activities of shylock petroleum dealers.
WAY FORWARD
Whereas we support the government completely on subsidy removal, we advise that it should be handled with caution. We support the government because the nation cannot continue to subsidise fraud. It is unfortunate that the outgone administration laid such a landmine, but with a rightful mindset and focused leadership, we are certain that the present government will navigate over it.
What we expect the government to do at this time is to further engage major stakeholders, including the youths, religious and traditional leaders who are closer to the people.
The government should also ask the marketers to revert to the old price till the end of June when subsidy will end. This is the right thing to do in this instance.
The government must also checkmate the nefarious activities of petroleum marketers who had always sabotaged government efforts. They will do everything to ensure that the policy fails, thereby continuing to milk the nation dry.
These are the same people who have made sure that none of the refineries will work. It is high time the government put all measures on ground to stop them from sabotaging the economy.
We also urge the federal government to plunge part of the money that will be saved from the subsidy withdrawal into reviving at least two of the four refineries. This will help further in the reduction of pump price of fuel.
In addition, more licences should also be granted to individuals and corporate organisations who may wish to build refineries.
Finally, we make bold to say that removal of subsidy is a good decision for the overall interest of the country and the NLC should not be a cog in the wheel of progress.
