NIGERIANS have been asked to take the opportunity of the raging debate on the removal of oil subsidy to reach a consensus with the government on the urgent need to move the country from its present debilitating wealth sharing structure, to a wealth creating, sustainable and equitable nation.A group, the South-East South-South Professionals (SESSP) at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, pointed out that the nation's political economy is at a major crossroads, which calls for urgent steps to get things back on track.Also, Friends of National Transformation Agenda (FONTRA) insisted that existing economic conditions in the country make the removal of oil subsidy necessary at this point. A statement signed by president of SESSP, Emeka Ugwu-Oju, and the Secretary General, Dagogo Karibi-Whyte,stated: 'The present super-structure of the economy is not viable and will collapse sooner or later, whether the fuel subsidy is removed or not.'A situation whereby the federal and state governments spend in excess of 70 per cent of the budget on recurrent expenditure, comprising salaries, emoluments and overheads for an over-bloated bureaucracy is a certain pathway to disaster.SESSP disclosed that in a position paper to President Goodluck Jonathan, the leadership of the National Assembly, and the 36 state governors, it observed that 'earnings of about US$30 billion to US$35 billion yearly from oil and gas exports does not make a nation of over 167 million people a rich nation.'The group noted that despite the positions of the federal government, supported by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the state governments on the removal of fuel subsidy, 'the truth is that many Nigerians, especially organised labour, led by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), are opposed to the removal of the fuel subsidy. Nigerians are very distrustful of governments at all levels, and are not interested in government's argument on the merits or demerits of removal of oil subsidy.Addressing journalists in Lagos yesterday, national coordinator of FONTRA, Victor Chigbundu, said most of the mass transport systems and manufacturing industries whose activities impact on the lives of the common people use diesel, which has since been deregulated, to run their operations, arguing: 'There is no way removal of oil subsidy on petrol will affect the cost of their operations.'He stated that any transporter, outside those using the 14-seater buses or manufacturers of goods, who decide to increase the cost of their services would only be displaying greed in order to make more money and not because of oil subsidy removal on petroleum products.He said that most of the 100 companies granted licenses to import refined petrol, especially 89 of them listed as having benefitted or benefitting from oil subsidy are not the common people of Nigeria.'We support the President's plan because we believe the country cannot truly make progress if the subsidy on petroleum is not removed, as experience has shown that oil marketers have only ended up enriching themselves and not the majority of Nigerian people,' they stressed.
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