Cleric warns FG over fuel subsidy removal

The Spiritual Father and Chairman of the Cherubim and Seraphim Movement Church Worldwide (Ayo Ni O), Most Rev. Samuel Abidoye, on Wednesday warned the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration against going ahead with its planned removal of petroleum subsidy.Abidoye argued that the removal of fuel subsidy would further worsen the plight of the already suffering Nigerian masses and could send the country down the precipice of further violence.He stressed that with the current insecurity in the country, the removal of fuel subsidy was capable of inflaming the already charged atmosphere.The cleric stated this while speaking with newsmen at the CSMC International Headquarters, Kaduna, on the state of the nation.Abidoye advised the Federal Government to rather concentrate its efforts on revamping the nations four comatose refineries and building new ones before toying with the idea of withdrawing fuel subsidy.He stressed that it would be inhuman on the part of the Jonathan administration to withdraw fuel subsidy when the successive governments had failed to maintain the existing refineries or build new ones.The CSMC leader stated that the high level of poverty among the ordinary people had reached an alarming stage which was no longer acceptable and should therefore not be aggravated by an anti-people policy such as the fuel subsidy removal.The cleric said it was regrettable and shameful that the majority of the people wallowed in abject poverty in the face of the affluence shamelessly displayed by the rich, corrupt politicians and other public office holders.He, therefore, advised the Federal Government to make practical and serious efforts towards arresting the problem of poverty in the country rather than imposing policies that would compound it.
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