Nigeria F.

G to remove Fuel Subsidy

country, jobs would be created and
the country would becom e a
petroleum-products refining and
petrochemicals hub, at least in the
W e st Africa sub-region.

President Goodluck Jonathan

urrently, governm ent revealed its intention
regarding the removal of fuel subsidy, a
program m e that has occupied national
d iscourse in the last 19 years.
Indications are that for a country with a reserve
portfolio in e xc e ss of 3 6 billion barrels of oil and daily
output capacity put at about 3 million barrels per day,
a deregulated environment would engender an
environment conducive for investm ents to thrive.
Refineries w ould start springing up a cro ss the

Granted, prices of petroleum products

w ould increase in the short run, in the
medium to long term, investm ents in
development of infrastructure would
go up ow ing to the large volum e of
human and vehicular traffic, jobs
w ould be created, technology would
be domiciled and under such
circum stances, the g ro ss dom estic
product, G DP of the country can only
go up.
But, Nigerians sa y removal of fuel
su b sid y will only aggravate poverty,
increase hardship and above all,
increase the level of job le ssn e ss in the
country.
Those w h o spoke to New sG rain
suggested that governm ent should
focus on other resources that have
been abandoned
for long and invest
in them to make
the country better
for everybody.

zeroing- in only on Islamic

b an kin g? If he fa iled to
u nderstand w h a t w as going
on, w h y did he not d efer the
m a t t e r p e n d i n g the
p resen ce o f the Speaker,
w h o w ould su rely d irect and
advise the House properly?
S o m e tim e s o n e t r ie s to
convince o n eself th at our
H onourable m em bers are
intelligen t and therefore quick to understand issues as they
readily are.
Christian Churches have been talking. T h ey are opposed
to Islam ic Banking. If this Islam ic banking is not nipped in
the bud, it w ill ign ite an u n co n tro llab le fr e n z y of
m ultifarious dem ands for all sorts o f things th at w ill
inevitably heat up the polity.
A legal practitioner, M oham m ed Fawehinm i, has advised
against foisting Islam ic banking on Nigeria describing it as
"in cred ib le bad p o lic y form u lation and u n n ecessary
religious sen tim en t.
N igeria is a secular state and w e are all happy abou t it.
People o f all sorts o f religious convictions are living in peace,
sid e b y side, in this country.
The Governor o f Central B ank o f Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi is b etter advised to refrain from his
Islam isation policy. If he is no longer interested in his
exalted position as the apex bank's Chief Executive, he
should hon ourably take his exit, like his peaceable and
am iable pred ecessors w h o acquitted them selves w ith

instance, there is coal in Enugu, w e have

cocoa and nobody is talking about it, I
believe governm ent should exploit those
areas. Nigerian governm ent should not
make life difficult for the m a sse s. They
should go into areas that have been
neglected. People should be benefiting
from governm ent and not the other w a y
round. They should not inflict hardship on
people", he concluded.
For Patience Nzeakor, Nigerian
governm ent has failed to fulfill its
promises. They have prom ised different
things and they are yet to fulfill a ny of
those things. Teachers' salary are not paid
, yet there is nothing w e have seen so far.
Nothing has been implemented.
W h a t they told u s to be expecting is that
prices of petroleum products would be
reduced for the m a ss e s to enjoy. But
nobody ha s gained anything from
governm ent's programme. Up till date, w e
are still buying a litre of kerosene at the
rate of N 1 50, yet nobody ha s done
anything about it. The expectation of
good governance se e m s to be a mirage.
W h a t w e were hearing no w is that

New sgrain
Correspondent
sam pled the
opinions of
Nigerians and
reports:
Em m a Emenike,
an owerri based
keke rider said, "if
the federal
governm ent
rem oves subsidy
on fuel, things
w ould be difficult
for average
Nigerians. All the
essential
amenities of life
will be difficult to
get. That is w h y I
am not in support
of removal of
su b sid y on
petroleum
products because
Nigerians are still
benefiting from it.
'T here are m any
places
governm ent can
delve into and not
in the area of
removal of oil
subsidy. For

su b sid y on petroleum products will be

removed thereby increasing the prices of
those products," he lamented.
M eanw hile A nd re w okeke suggested that
those w h o are encouraging trouble in this
country should be dealt with. I s a w the
story on the p ages of n e w sp ap e rs and
heard them on radio. If they eventually
remove it, the question to a sk is that,
w h at is the reason for the rem oval? If
su b sid y is removed, it sim ply opens the
doors for governors, m inisters to have
extra ghana-m ust-go by their side. H ow
m any of the governors are punished after
being probed, they only go a w a y with
people's money.
You can only hear about a project being
executed on the television and new spapers
but in the real se n se of it, those projects are
not there. B y giving them this money, then,
you have em powered them more to

Contd. On page 45
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