President Goodluck Jonathan has directed Presidency officials as well as those of the ministries of petroleum and finance to reach out to members of the National Assembly to convince them of the need to remove the fuel subsidy.The presidential directive, THE PUNCH learnt on Sunday, was passed to the affected officials from Perth, Australia, where President Jonathan attended the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting. The President is due back in the country on Monday (Monday).A source in the Presidency said, In the coming weeks, you will see more meetings between the executive and the National Assembly. We intend to bring all facts to justify our demand for the removal of the fuel subsidy. This is a democracy, without the support of the lawmakers, the plan will fail.The President, in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, submitted to the Senate on October 4, had said N1.2trn would be saved from the fuel subsidy removal that is to commence in January 2012. According to him, the money will be spent on providing safety nets for the poor.Following the criticisms of the plan by some lawmakers, the President and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had on October 10 met with the leadership of the National Assembly at the Presidential Villa.I cannot say for now what the position of the National Assembly is, and the decision on that will be taken when the budget is presented debated on the floor, the Senate Spokesman, Enyinnaya Abaribe, had told journalists after the meeting.Also on Friday, the Minister of labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu, met with the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity.We seek your support in the direction of deregulation policy, and believe that what will accrue to the Federal Government from the removal of fuel subsidy will be judiciously used as well as monitored and managed by eminent Nigerians who are well respected in the society, the minister told the committee members.THE PUNCHs sister publication, Saturday PUNCH, had reported on October 29 that the government had released a huge amount of money and appointed a team of media managers in the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to promote the subsidy removal campaign.According to the report, government will reach out to those who are opposed to the plan, particularly labour leaders, civil rights groups and religious leaders.The Group General Manager, Public Affairs Division of the NNPC, Dr. Levi Ajuonuma, had said that government was consulting various segments of the society on the matter.In a press statement, Ajunoma said that the Federal Government was into a very wide consultation in the interest of the masses, which are at the receiving end of fuel subsidy.There is no lie about the fact that government has consulted widely and is still consulting with key stakeholders like labour, traditional institutions, organised private sector, the national assembly to reach an amicable understanding of the issues involved in deregulation. And I am sure labour cannot deny this fact, he had said.The Special Adviser to the President on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emordi, told our correspondent during an interview that the executive was ready to further engage the lawmakers in dialogue beyond the pre-budget briefing.Emordi said, There will always be need to hold dialogue over issues that appear to be controversial and we will continue to address the minds of people who may not be convinced or support the policy.Some will not see reasons, but after discussions, they may change, it is on that basis that we will be engaging members of the National Assembly.When the budget is presented, there will be issues raised and we will be addressing the issues as they come.She noted that the reasons for the removal of fuel subsidy was obviously for the benefit of Nigerians and it would be necessary that people cooperated with the Federal Government so that the basic needs of life would be provided for the ordinary people.Also speaking on the issue, Leader of the Senate, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, told our correspondent that although a session of dialogue was expected over the controversial issue, the Presidency was yet to approach members of the legislature on the matter.We expect that there would be further consultations, but we are yet to have any meeting on that, he said.It was, however, gathered that most lawmakers were waiting to see the content of the 2012 budget before they took their positions on the fuel subsidy issue.At the moment, members are said to be sharply divided on the policy. In order to ascertain the propriety or otherwise of the removal of fuel subsidy, the Senate set up a joint committee to investigate the subsidy administration in the country and report back with recommendations.
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