The All Nigeria Peoples Party has called on the National Assembly to take a firm decision on the move by the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy.The ANPP said Nigerians were depending on their representatives in the National Assembly to stop the move and protect them (Nigerians) from the hardship that would trail the eventual removal of fuel subsidy.Speaking with THE PUNCH in Port Harcourt on Sunday, the former national vice chairman of the party, Chief Asukewe Iko-Awaji, charged members of the National Assembly not to lose focus on the need to protect Nigerians from obnoxious policies.He said, I am not against fuel subsidy. But I strongly believe in the fact that our refineries should be made to work optimally while new ones are constructed before any consideration for the removal of fuel subsidy.Meanwhile, the National Youth Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mr. Miriki Ebikibina, on Sunday said youths across the country would rise up against the decision of the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy.Ebikibina who spoke to our correspondent in a telephone interview, said the Federal Government had incurred the wrath of the youths and beaten the drum of revolution with its insistence on fuel subsidy removal.He said, The removal of subsidy will not only unleash hardship on the people, it will also compound instead of addressing the unprecedented level of youth unemployment in the country.Also, the Osun State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria, described the move by the Federal Government to remove subsidy on fuel as callous.Addressing journalists in Osogbo, its Director of Research and Strategy, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, explained that fuel subsidy removal would increase the hardship of the masses.Oyatomi said the move to remove fuel subsidy is an attempt to distabilise Nigeria, adding that the National Assembly should call President Goodluck Jonathan and his economic team to order.He said, The proposed removal of oil subsidy would cause severe inflationary spiral, diminish the quality of life of many Nigerians and devalue the naira.The National Association of Seadogs (aka Pyrates Confraternity) on Saturday in Abuja described the debate over the removal of petroleum subsidy by the Federal Government as nothing but a fighting of ignorance and a grand design by some cabal to drain the countrys resources.A management consultant/Typhoon Blasted Seadog, Chief Emeka Okengwu, said this in his lecture entitled, Proposed removal of petroleum subsidy on petroleum products-Socio-economic implications on the polity, at the annual end of year party for children organised by the Federal Capital Territory chapter of NAS.He described the recent call of mass action against government by the Nigeria Labour Congress over fuel subsidy removal as a way of enriching their pockets.Okengwu explained that what government should be concerned with should be how to produce fuel locally in an optimal capacity and stop running after other African countries for refining.The Chairman, Kwara State chapter of the Nigerian Labour Congress, Mr. Faruk Akanbi; and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Mr. Israel Adebisi, said their unions would fully participate in any action declared by the national bodies of their unions against the removal of fuel subsidy in 2012.In separate telephone interviews with our correspondent in Ilorin on Sunday, they condemned the non-inclusion of the subsidy fund in the 2012 budget proposal of President Goodluck Jonathan which he sent to the National Assembly.We will support any action declared by the Central body totally. I believe the NEC will soon meet and there will be a decision. The moment they call on us for any action, we will join, Adebisi said.Akanbi said the subsidy withdrawal was an anti-peoples policy, which he said would increase inflation and make life unbearable for the masses. He added that the subsidy withdrawal was unnecessary now considering the current state of Nigerias economy with high unemployment level, poor infrastructure and high inflation.He said the state chapter of the union would mobilise its members and all people necessary to make the struggle succeed. According to him, the struggle is in the interest of the masses, who he said would greatly suffer because of the policy.Meanwhile, the Senate Joint Committee investigating the subsidy scheme in the country has reached an agreement with the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on the submission of the audit report on subsidy payments by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.Although the committee had given Okonjo-Iweala seven days from December 1 to submit the report for its scrutiny, the minister failed to meet the deadline.She had asked the committee to allow her complete work on budget preparation and presentation before turning in the report.Having failed to submit the report as instructed, the committee has granted the minister an extension to submit the report before it resumes hearing in January.A member of the committee told our correspondent on Sunday, The committee has reached an agreement with the minister and we hope the report will be presented once the committee work resumes in the Senate.
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