President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday said that the controversial deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry was a necessary change Nigeria must make.

Nationwide protests have greeted the government’s decision that took effect from January 1 and increased the price of petrol from N65 per litre to between N141 and N200.

Labour unions and civil society groups had slated Monday for the commencement of a nationwide strike and protests against the government’s decision.

But Jonathan insisted on Friday that the decision must stay if the government must have a significant impact on the lives of the citizens.

The President spoke while receiving the Special Adviser to the United Nations’ Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, on Millennium Development Goals, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, at the State House.

He regretted that the country’s 2010 capital budget was funded with borrowed money. The equivalent of that fund, he added, was used to fund the subsidy in 2011.

“No meaningful infrastructural development is possible in such an environment,” he stated.

Jonathan said his administration decided to take the difficult but necessary decision because of its commitment to making significant and enduring intervention in some key areas.

The President identified such key sectors as power generation and supply, roads railway, capacity building and health among others.

He added that the sectors had already been opened to private sector participation.

He thanked Sachs for his concern for the development of Nigeria and Africa.

Earlier, Sachs had described Jonathan’s decision to remove fuel subsidy as “a bold and correct policy.”

He observed that funds so released would go a long way in contributing to rapid infrastructural development.

Sachs commended Jonathan for the conditional grants to local governments for the implementation of the MDGs.

He described the gesture as one of the most innovative schemes of using national resources for local government development.

He later told State House correspondents that the move was a highly innovative programme.

He said, “The question is, how can a big country like Nigeria with 155 million people and a federal structure use resources like the debt relief gains that were achieved by this country to reach the local people in the local villages, that is a great effort?

“The CGS/LGAs conditional grant scheme for local government areas is a very innovative programme. Now, local governments will get federal resources to be able to invest in clinics, schools and safe water, sanitation facilities in order to meet local needs using national resources.”

Sachs said he would like to see Nigeria make fast progress in meeting the MDGs.

-Punch

Posted by admin on Jan 6 2012. Filed under Latest Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry