N3trn fuel subsidy: How NGF, Labour brokered truce

SOME members of Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF), led by the Chairman of the forum and Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, formally met with the leadership of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Trade Union Congress (TUC), with a view to deliberate on the N3 trillion being spent on fuel subsidy.

According to the statement issued by the NGF Head of Media and Public Affairs, Abdulrasaque Bello-Barkindo, both groups, at the meeting held on Tuesday, affirmed that the fuel subsidy is a necessary action that the country must deal with now or in the nearest future.

The meeting, which was held at the NGF Secretariat in Maitama Abuja, brokered a partnership between the NGF and the organised labour as both parties agreed that the “lacuna in the subsidy removal agenda was hidden in the untruths bandied by the administrators of the subsidy, particularly the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which both groups identify to be at the forefront of the mismanagement of the proceeds accrued therein,” Bello-Barkindo noted.

Delivering his opening remarks at the meeting also attended by the TUC president and a host of other leaders of organised labour in the country, Governor Fayemi argued that the nation’s economy is on the precipice and that it had become necessary for the two groups to carefully verify all of NNPC’s estimates to ensure that whatever action is taken on subsidy, it would be the people that get direct benefits and not a few wealthy individuals and their cronies in the country.

Dr Fayemi told the labour leaderships that subsidy removal had remained an ongoing conversation not just among governors but the country at large, and emphasised that governors cannot but be part of the solution providers in the onerous task confronting the nation.

The Ekiti State governor further stated that “there are raging questions of accountability associated with subsidy removal in the country. The NGF and the NLC can jointly work together to proffer solutions that heal the economy and provide succour to the Nigerian people.”

The NGF chairman, who led a delegation of Governors Simon Lalong of Plateau State and chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and Godwin Obaseki of Edo State to the meeting, argued that all the countries surrounding Nigeria, including Niger, Mali, Cameroun and Ghana, have their fuel pump price at the equivalent of a US dollar, while Nigeria has a pump price that is far less than a dollar and is uncomfortable with the removal of subsidy until the challenge of what the NNPC is telling the country is confronted. “We need a partnership with the NLC to confront the challenges of what the NNPC is about, because there is a lot of fraud in the consumption and distribution figures that the country is getting, and we can only move forward if the NLC engages all those who are knowledgeable in the field, like PENGASSAN, to conduct a thorough research into the sector before any further action is taken on subsidy,” Dr Fayemi satated. He also insisted that the partnership with the NLC must confront the perennial issue of palliatives for the common man towards cushioning the effects of subsidy removal on the citizenry, stating that “not tackling the problem now is tantamount to postponing the evil day. Finding succour for the ordinary Nigerian at this time is absolutely imperative and necessary now more than ever.”

One of the tasks which formed the terms of convening the meeting was to also plead with Labour to jettison its decision to embark on what it referred to as a megastrike and join hands with the governors to consider the dimensions at play on the subsidy removal palaver.

In his statement, Governor Obaseki warned that “we have a choice of continuing to behave like Father Christmas (Santa Claus) or take concrete actions on a problem that is permanently with us rather than throwing away N3 trillion on subsidy.”

He also emphasised that the country would do well to revamp the power sector, which is virtually comatose because without power, the country would continue to throw millions of Nigerians into unemployment, and ultimately, poverty.

In his remarks, Governor Lalong, who joined the meeting virtually, recalled that the NGF had spent three years on the matter as the country could not continue with subsidising petroleum products.

Governor Lalong, who observed that the painstaking work that led to the solutions that the NGF was highlighting took a year to script together, urged the teams from the two groups to immediately set out to work to find the light at the end of the tunnel.

The meeting took place barely an hour before the NLC announced the suspension of its mega-strike, as it disclosed to the governors that its committee had consulted widely and decided to call it off before arriving at the NGF secretariat.

Both Comrade Ayuba Wabba of NLC and the TUC President, Quadri Olaleye, stressed their lack of appreciation of the trust deficit that characterised previous negotiations and wondered why the subsidy issue had always been shrouded in secrecy on the part of the government. The unionists argued that the conflicting figures that always come from the managers of the petroleum sector had always tended towards inefficiency which had remained, to the people and to labour, completely objectionable.

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Meanwhile, the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) has appealed to the Federal Government to give priority to the revitalisation of the four refineries in the country ahead of the removal of the subsidy on petroleum products.

President of IPMAN, Alhaji Debo Ahmed, gave the advice on Wednesday in a statement he issued to commend the suspension of the removal of oil subsidy.

The IPMAN President in his statement, asides calling for repair of the four refineries also appealed to the Federal Government to ensure availability of petroleum products to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited depots across the country, noted that selective supply to private depots is “making it impossible for the product to be sold at the government upper price band.”

Ahmed restated the association’s demand for payment of outstanding Bridging Claims owed marketers by the defunct Petroleum Equalisation Fund now operating under the name, Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA).

“We reiterate our position that the four nation’s refineries be repaired and allowed to function optimally before the removal of fuel subsidy.

“Our huge funds are tied up with PPMC Ltd, a subsidiary of NNPC, where members pay for NNPC products supplied to their depots. We are equally pleading that marketers’ transportation claims be paid to allow members remain afloat in business,” the statement read.