THE House of Representatives yesterday started its consideration of the 2012-2015 Medium Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) and the 2012 Fiscal Strategic Paper (FSP), which contained the controversial proposal for the withdrawal of fuel subsidy.After an exhaustive debate on the general principles of the proposal, the House directed three of its committees to jointly study and work on the entire proposals in the MTFF and the FSP and make recommendations for appropriate legislative action within two weeks.The Committees are those in charge of Finance, National Planning, and Legislative Budget.During the debate on the floor of the House yesterday, lawmakers cautioned against what they called 'imposition' of the fuel withdrawal policy on Nigerians without proper economic relief measures. Those who spoke in this vein included Alimi Suleiman (Kano State), Abike Dabiri-Erewa (ACN, Lagos State) and Bamidele Opeyemi (ACN, Ekiti State).When Deputy Minority Leader of the House, Abdulrahman Kawu, urged his colleagues to base the approval of the proposal on the level of implementation of the 2011 budget, Speaker Aminu Tambuwal advised that issues of the Budget 2011 implementation be treated separately.Chairman of the Appropriation Committee, John Enoh, advised that lawmakers should be careful not to mix the issue of approving the MTFF with that of fuel subsidy removal.According to him, the document was more of a statement of the economic plan of the Federal Government for the next four years.Also yesterday, the Appropriation Committee declared that because of the frequent disregard and disobedience to the rules of budgeting and budget implementation, Nigerians had lost confidence in the budgetary process.Citing the refusal of statutory corporations and agencies to submit their budgets for appropriation by the National Assembly, the committee said the Fiscal Responsibility Act was a law that should be respected by all to protect the budgetary process.At the maiden meeting of the Committee, it vowed to ensure that all government agencies pay serious attention to the rules of budgeting in the country.On the alleged selective implementation of budgets by the executive, the committee said it would increase its oversight responsibilities in such a way as to allow it monitor the level of implementation.But the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has reaffirmed its readiness to fight the Federal Government to a standstill, if it goes ahead to remove the fuel subsidy as scheduled.National Deputy President, NLC, Promise Adewusi made this known yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun State.He stated that as far as Labour was concerned 'there is no subsidy on the petroleum products as claimed by government. Government is only subsidising its own inefficiency. The new song by government that kerosene would not be affected is a deceit to pacify the masses.'Nothing has changed. We asked if it is usual or normal to put the cart before the horse' The government itself realises that principle and fundamental infrastructure needed to drive market-driven fixtures of petroleum pricing is still not in place. Labour is saying that as far as we are concerned there is no subsidy because government is subsidizing its own inefficiency.'Also, the President and Chairman of Council, the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), Dr. Sally Nkem Adukwu-Bolujoko, has called on the government to take a gradual approach to its plans of phasing out fuel subsidy rather than doing it at once.According to a statement issued yesterday, Adukwu-Bolujoko said: 'Complete removal of subsidy will further compound the already dire condition of ordinary Nigerians and visit untold economic hardship on them'.She also enjoined the Federal Government to repair the countries' refineries and bring them to full capacity operation, even as she called for deployment of the proceeds realised from the subsidy removal to maintaining public infrastructure and building new ones.In a related development, the Nigerian Association of Commerce and Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) has faulted the decision of the Federal Government to remove subsidy from petroleum products, the devaluation of the naira and increase in electricity tariff.Speaking at a media briefing yesterday in Lagos as part of preparations towards the association's national conference holding on November 2, 2011, the National President, NACCIMA, Ademola Ajayi, stated that the hope of Nigerians for an improved economy has been threatened by all sorts of theories since the Federal Government announced the planned removal of fuel subsidy.According to Ajayi, the economy has not, in spite of on-going reforms, progressed as expected, 'as the business community continues to grapple with the usual age-long challenging operating environment, policy inconsistencies and infrastructure constraints, particularly power and energy.'He also faulted the unstable value of the naira against the United States dollar and other currencies.The devaluation of the naira, the NACCIMA chief added, 'is believed by many as inflationary and could be a major threat to the cost of implementation of the 2012 federal and states budget, as well as those of the private sector.'Ajayi warned that 'any further increases in electricity tariff under the current inefficient situation of power supply will be unacceptable to the majority of Nigerians because it will further increase the already high cost of living.'But against the backdrop of conflicting claims of how much the Federal Government spends yearly on fuel subsidy, a civil society group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), yesterday requested the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) to 'provide within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this request, detailed information on the government spending on fuel 'subsidy' since the beginning of 2011 to date, and to publish widely the information on a dedicated website.'The group based its request, signed by its Solicitor, Femi Falana, on the Freedom of Information Act.But, acting National Chairman, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Abubakar Kawu Baraje and the immediate past Minister of Interior, Emma Iheanacho, have assured that President Goodluck Jonathan will not implement the subsidy policy without ensuring that Nigerians make their contributions towards it.
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