NLC:We won't allow subsidy removal

The Federal Government will not be allowed to remove subsidy from petroleum products since such action would only impoverish the masses, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said yesterday.NLC President's Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar said in a statement that the claim by the Federal Government that the funds from subsidy removal would be managed by a credible team of Nigerians 'is disingenuous.'Petroleum Minister Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke had said at the Commonwealth Business Forum in Perth, Australia on Tuesday that the proceeds of the subsidy removal will be managed by a credible team of citizens to be put together by government. Though she did not name the team members, she said a list of names was already awaiting President Goodluck Jonathan's approval.But Omar criticised this, saying it is government's way of hoodwinking the international community into making them to agree with it on subsidy removal and to lure them away from the NLC's mobilization against a bad government policy.Omar said, 'The question is, who are those managing the national economy and the annual budgets' If they are not Nigerians of integrity, why not handover the economy to such Nigerians' Recreating a DFRRI as General Ibrahim Babangida did, or a Petroleum Trust Fund [PTF] as General Sani Abacha did, is disingenuous. Government should simply leave its induced oil subsidy in place.'NLC President said the minister's announcement that a Think Tank is being proposed by Government on the subsidy issue is also laughable as Government should have done so and thought through the process before announcing subsidy removal.He said, 'Also, her claims that Government wants to consult 'stakeholders' on the issue is like putting the cart before the horse; that should have been a basic step before Government's announcement of its decision to remove oil subsidy. Her announcement that the subsidy to be removed would be used for road works, public maintenance, mass transportation, youths skill development, maternity and child care is gimmickry; what are the huge resources of the country which are at the disposal of Government used for' The reality is that despite the trillions of naira budgeted annually for these basic needs, the roads remain in a deplorable state, public maintenance is absent, mass transportation is non-existent, youths are abandoned as are the public hospitals leading to high mother and child mortality rates.
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