FUEL SUBSIDY, INFLATION AND NATIONAL SECURITY PRESS RELEASE BY THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF CATHOLIC CARITAS FOUNDATION OF NIGERIA, ABUJA, FR. EVARISTUS BASSEY

We are alarmed at the fact that government is not intending either now or in the future to reduce the pump price of petrol. Whether government builds ten refineries in the nearest future and Nigeria’s refining capacity is increased beyond domestic demand, it is alarming that government is not intent on reducing the price of petrol, ostensibly because it wants prices to compete with neighbouring nations in order to avoid smuggling of the products across the borders. Instead of government initiating ways to man the borders and prosecuting fuel smugglers, government is intent on sustaining the hardship on Nigerians. This is terrible. This means that if those in neighbouring countries increase their pump prices beyond the present level, the Nigerian government will immediately increase the pump price of petrol again, in order to avoid smuggling. This is subversive, as government thinks only of economic value and not human value.

If it makes economic sense to remove the subsidy, this should be separated from fuel pump price; as it is quite possible to reduce the pump price of petrol while eliminating the corruption in the subsidy regime. The template that PPPRA has used to arrive at the pump price is suspect and must be reviewed. Till date government has abandoned its tank farms and preferred to rent private tank farms and adding this inefficiency to Nigerians. Government cannot keep giving the excuse of vandalisation of pipelines, as government has all it takes to patrol the pipelines even by helicopter. Government has been held captive by barons in the downstream sector and is transferring this fickleness to Nigerians. This is unacceptable. Fuel can cost less with or without subsidy and it must. Corruption in the down stream can be fought, as has happened in the Petroleum Equalization Fund where transactions are automated, paper less. The Jonathan government must convince Nigerians that it is not part of the corruption in the downstream sector.

Meanwhile we advise Mr. President to project more confidence in order to inspire millions of those who voted for him. If the president and Commander- in- chief sounds helpless in the face of security threats, how can he guarantee the protection of lives and properties of Nigerians ? The president should have included in his startling remarks a promise to fish out the fifth columnists and deal with them. Meanwhile in our considered opinion the security agencies should not separate the call for Christians to vacate the North from the quest for power in 2015, as there may be fear about voting outcomes with the presence of large numbers of non-indigenous populations in the north. As everyone becomes more security conscious, no one should be tempted to abandon the Gospel injunction of the Lord Jesus who taught about the unconditional love of everyone including the perceived enemy. Even the Prophet Mohammed(bless his soul) taught the tolerance of others.

We call on citizens to take more active interest in the budget processes of government in order to influence it, and engage the legislature more and more at all levels, for it is they that have the power of appropriation of the budget. As citizens we must keep up the ante until government brings down this contrived price.

Fr. Evaristus Bassey

Executive Secretary

CCFN

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Trade unionism and trades unions; an introductory perspective

Introduction Trades unions have become key components of most modern societies be such societies democratic or totalitarian, advanced capitalist or backward post-colonial. The nature of trade unions and trade unionisms are however quite different, even in otherwise similar societies. The United Kingdom and the United States for example could be considered as similar as societies could be (being the leading “liberal market economies” in the world), but they have quite different types of trade unions and approaches to trades unionism. Similarly France and Germany, two leading “coordinated market economies” in the West, have clearly different trades unions’ characteristics. Coming closer home; on one hand there are distinct traits that mark the industrial relations systems and trade union practice as heritages of our colonial past i.e. along English-speaking and French-speaking Africa lines. On the other hand, there are specific features of trade unionism and trades unions even in the cl
Read more

Tools and skills for trade unions’ engagement with the state’s policy cycle process

1.0 Introduction It gives me great pleasure to present this paper for several reasons. NUPENG is definitely one of the most important unions in the country today, due to the strategic place of oil in the economy, nationally and globally. It has also, along with its PENGASSAN sister union which I have had much closer training relations with , played very progressive roles in the trade union movement, and national polity, over the last three decades, in different ways. This is the more reason why the theme of this workshop and the topic I am to speak on is very germane, for which I commend the leadership, and education department of NUPENG. I have taken the liberty of re-phrasing the topic somewhat in two different ways, which have key significance for our discussion. First, I have replaced “government” with “state”. The former is more temporal, as we can talk of the governments of Babangida, Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan for example, while the latter is the structure that governm
Read more

Nigerians Should Expect More Mass Protests – Baba Aye*

Image
You are a Co-Convener of the Coalition for Revolution (CORE) that organised peaceful protests across the country for a revolution that was expected to usher in a positive change in the lives of Nigerians. What is the state of CORE and the other affiliates now? The series of peaceful protests you are talking about comprise the #RevolutionNow campaign, which was launched on 5 August 2019 with a nationwide #DayOfRage protest. The campaign helped to catalyse the reawakening of a spirit of revolt against the oppressive rule of the APC in particular and the exploiter ruling class and their repressive apparatus in general. It contributed significantly to igniting the #EndSARS rebellion in October 2020. A lot has happened since, with both the coalition and its affiliates. CORE unfurled the campaign in the wake of a resolution adopted by the African Action Congress (AAC). The Take It Back movement of the AAC, as you know, was a member-organisation of CORE. In fact, it was one of the two blo
Read more