CPC Opposes Plan to Withdraw Fuel Subsidy

Posted by admin CPC (Congress 4 Progressive Change), Party Politics Monday, October 17th, 2011

The Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) has said it was against plans by the Federal Government to stop subsidising petroleum products consumed in the country with effect from January 2012.

The party, in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Rotimi Fashakin, said its opposition to the move was prompted by the fact that the Federal Government had not been able to rescue the ailing four local refineries in the last 13 years, let alone building new ones.

Fashakin also said the party was worried that there had been no sustained welfare package for the people in the critical areas of decent living to warrant such harsh economic policy.

“As a party, we have seen the current frenetic efforts at coercing the organised private sector in endorsing this Policy. We recall how another PDP-led administration gored the Nation into its perilous neo-capitalist policy (aka Privatisation), which ,from recent revelations, have shown to be no more than a deceptive endeavour to ‘settle’ Nigeria’s resources in the hands of fawning agents, cronies and proxies of the leaders,” he said.

Fashakin said though the argument posited by the Federal Government that the savings from the removal would be ploughed into the provision of badly needed infrastructure and social safety nets for the vulnerable segments of the society may be good, there was need to first of all entrench transparency in the sector as a means of restoring public confidence and trust.

“Whilst we do not disagree with wide-ranging consultations, it is our candid view that the critical benefit thereafter can only be predicated on transparently laying bare all the facts.

“As Party, it is our belief, we must make haste slowly. The current stance of the PDP-led Federal Government that obviates the need to ingeniously explore other solutions is simply precipitous,” he said.

“It is equally our considered opinion, as a party, that a regime with a predilection for profligate spending as was manifested in the last general election where, up till this moment, the depletion in the Excess Crude-oil Account has not been explained, should never be trusted to show fiscal discipline,” he said.

Explaining the party’s position further, Fashakin said as at May 2008, the four major oil refineries: the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Plant, the New Port Harcourt Refinery, as well as the now defunct Kaduna Refinery were producing at a low capacity.

He said both Warri and the Port-Harcourt refineries operated at only 30% capacity.

He said it was estimated that local consumption of Petroleum in Nigeria grows at 12.8% annually.

“When viewed against the backdrop of the Malthusian growth model whereby the population of a nation at any instantaneous time assumes an exponential increase of the yearly growth rate; the fact of the PDP-led administrations not justifying its ruler-ship on the political terrain for 13 years with a single additional refinery evinced a callous act of executive brigandage on the Nigerian people,” he added.

Speaking on the need for prudent and transparent operation of the oil sector, Fashakin said with the recent revelation that more money un-appropriated was being spent on subsidy for the current financial year, it would be difficult for those in authority to convince average Nigerians that the proposed removal of subsidy was not a deception.

“With no sustained welfare package for the Nigerian people in the critical areas of decent living, would this proposed removal of the ‘subsidy’ not be at variance with Section 14 (b) of the Nigerian constitution which states that: ‘the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”

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