Minister of Information, Mr Labaran Maku

By  Ahamefula Ogbu        

Despite the swirl of opposition to the removal of fuel subsidy in the country, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) Wednesday rose from its meeting with a resolve that there was no going back on the Federal Government policy.

The Council therefore appealed to Nigerians to show understanding while asking Labour to call protesters out of the streets which was increasing the pains and misery of the populace.

The decision to remove subsidy on fuel, the government insisted, was not one that was hastily taken, but “this issue of deregulation is not an option that the government arrived at in comfort or happiness. It is something that has been reviewed over a year and a half”.

Briefing State House correspondents after the meeting, Information Minister, Labaran Maku, said the government was ready to continue to dialogue but insisted the inevitability of removing the subsidy since it would lead to a total collapse of the economy which President Goodluck Jonathan was working to avoid.

“We have never closed our door to negotiation or discussions either with labour or other social groups that are involved in the current protest. What is very clear to us is that government is taking up its responsibility, not only at the federal level, various state governments are also engaged in direct discussions with their own trade unions as well as civil society groups and in some states I have noticed progress in the dialogue between the state government, Labour and the civil society groups involved.

“The Federal Government as far as we are involved, the process of dialogue is continuous but we continue to appeal to the fact that this protest is adding more pains to the people of Nigeria and in some places, we have begun to see that some elements outside labour are already virtually at the forefront and this is creating some security problems as we saw in Kaduna and Edo States. So we are appealing to Labour to drop this option of protest which is increasing the pains of Nigerians. It is believed that anything that cannot be achieved through dialogue will not really be useful when you call people to the streets,” he said. 

Asked if the dialogue the government was ready for included a possible reversal to N65 per litre, Maku said the federation comprises states with different capacities who were engaging their people and unions at different levels and were achieving different results like in Rivers State where he said the people and their government were able to work out an acceptable modality on cushioning the effects of the subsidy removal.

On where the government would get the money to fund projects expected to be carried out by the Dr. Christopher Kolade Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment (SURE) Programme since nothing was captured in the budget for them, he replied that the money would be removed from accruals to the government before the sharing by Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) in an account that would be with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and verifiable.

Explaining what led to the shooting up of subsidy spending from N200 billion to N1.3 trillion, Maku said increase in the number of cars on Nigerian roads and volatility in prices of oil as well as the exchange rate were responsible but would not say why the government would not audit the subsidy account with a view to punishing those profiting from it.

He rather replied that the president was courageous enough to remove the subsidy and should be commended.

“Let me say that from Mr. President's address last week to the nation, the Federal Government remains engaged in the process of dialogue with Labour. We have never dismissed the process of dialogue. Mr. President even after deregulation was announced, discussed with all Labour leaders, discussed with NLC; we discussed with the TUC; we discussed with other stakeholders outside Labour knowing that this key economic policy will affect the general population. So we discussed with NGOs and professional groups; we discussed with all opposition political parties. We also took time to discuss with traditional rulers; we also discussed with inter-faith groups so there was no strata of society that the president did not reach out to.

“Apart from the traditional engagement with Labour, the president also personally held various discussions with these groups. Mr. President also said in that address that he understands and appreciates the reaction of Nigerians because deregulation has meant increase in the fuel prices and transport cost. We can see that a number of our citizens are aggrieved and they have expressed that anger. Mr. President has also given the assurance of an urgent intervention programme to ameliorate the impact of deregulation which the government has already started implementing,” he said.

He had earlier said the Council discussed a memo from the Minister of National Planning, Shamsudeen Usman, on how ministries were going to meet performance indices as a set out to achieve the goals for the transformation agenda.

Speaking earlier yesterday, Jonathan declared that there was hope for the country in developing to meet advanced countries in technology which he said required the collective commitment of every Nigerian.

He made the declaration shortly before the commencement of the FEC meeting where the Minister of Science and Technology, Prof. Ita Ewa Henshaw, presented a certificate for the successful launch of Nigeria's communication satellite, Nigcomsat 1R as well as the presentation of a prototype spacecraft from China in furtherance to achieving Nigeria's space programme in 25 years.

“All Nigerians are very appreciative and happy. And today, we are even happier because our team of engineers that we have seen here are all young people. That shows that there is hope in this country. And we all believe that with our collective commitment to change Nigeria, this country will not be the same again.

“We must do things the way other countries are doing and we must move our country forward. And especially for the female engineer. On behalf of the Federal Executive Council and indeed on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I hope that you will even do more for your country,” Jonathan said and commended the 30 engineers behind Nigeria's satelli te systems.