Proposed Fuel Price Hike Ill-Advised, Say PFN, Others – The Nation Reports

By Gbenga Omokhunu, Abuja, AbdulGafar Alabelewe, Kaduna and Yinka Adeniran, Ibadan

Some notable Nigerians and groups have said the plan by the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy, which will increase the prices of petroleum products, will also worsen the already bad living conditions of millions of Nigerians.

The Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN); the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) and a former Secretary General of Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Chief Anthony Sani, warned that the implementation of such a policy in the present circumstance is a bad idea.

In a statement yesterday by the Media Office of its President, Bishop Francis Wale Oke, PFN said: “An increase in the price of petroleum from its present N165 to N340 per litre can trigger tension and crises in the country, which in turn can paralyse our economy, if not handled with utmost care.”

The Christian body advised the government to revive the four ailing refineries in the country with a view to ensuring they operate at optimal level.

“By whatever means, let the Federal Government put its heart into ensuring that our refineries are back to life. In addition, in order to stem the rising cost of living, farmers and others connected to them should be encouraged. This is what can help our economy,” it said.

Sani said the payment of N5,000 to 40 million Nigerians after the removal of fuel subsidy by 2022 would amount to a waste of national resources.

He said: “My take on how to manage the challenges posed by subsidy, which is not sustainable, is for the government to hands off petroleum subsidy by deregulation of the Downstream petroleum sector and allow market forces to determine the prices of petroleum that is in state of flux.”

The CNPP berated labour unions, including the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), for allegedly “representing their personal interests and not those of their members”.

In a statement by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu, the CNPP said: “The former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ibe Kachikwu, in December 2015 revealed that the Federal Government has concluded plans to remove the subsidy on fuel by 2016.

“By May 2016, the Federal Government announced that it had removed fuel subsidy and petrol was to sell for N145 per litre. In fact, NNPC made Nigerians believe that marketers were free to bring in fuel cargoes and sell, subject to meeting standard quality control.

“But in the deceitful character of the federal government, the NNPC then insisted on a benchmark of N145 per litre as a recommended pump price. Do you remove subsidies and dictate or suggest prices at the same time, if you are sincere?

“The CNPP, at the time, queried the rationale behind removing the subsidy and at the same time interfering in pump price by fixing a benchmark of N145 per litre of petrol…”