Fuel Susidy - Removed or Sustained?

It took over a two-hour audience as Senators and members of the House of Representatives continued to keep President Goodluck Jonathan in suspense over plans to remove fuel subsidy.

But the President warned that the economy may collapse, if the subsidy remains, said by sources.

But the Senators and Representatives endorsed Jonathan’s plans to tackle the Boko Haram menace and rid Nigeria of terrorism.

The President met with members of the National Assembly at the Presidential Villa between 3pm and 5pm.

The moderator of the session was the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim, a former Senate President.

It was learnt that after the opening prayer, which was said by the Senate Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, the session went into the two issues on the agenda - removal of fuel subsidy and Boko Haram’s insurgency.

The President (with whom were some ministers and the National Security Adviser, Gen. Owoye Azazi) explained why fuel subsidy must be removed.

It was gathered that when Sen. David Mark gauged the mood of members on the removal of fuel subsidy, he intervened by changing the focus to Boko Haram menace and insecurity.

After the President’s speech, two Senators reportedly spoke Deputy Senate leader Abdul Ningi asked the President to deal with the cartel reportedly gaining from the fuel subsidy. He reportedly said: “You are the most powerful black President; you have the power to deal with the cartel. We should confront the cartel.”

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Business, Sen. Ita Enang(Senotor, representing Uyo senatorial district), reportedly said: “What makes political sense might not make economic and security sense.”
Members of the House of Representatives declined to speak.

The deafening “NO!” re-echoed the position of the House that if the cartel is checked, the nation can afford about N500billion fuel subsidy per annum.

Sensing likely rowdiness, the Senate President prevailed on the President to address insecurity, especially the Boko Haram menace.

The source quoted Mark as saying: “I think the President cannot get the commitment of any member here, but we will go back and discuss the issue of removal of fuel subsidy and get back to him.

“But members will want to know what your administration is doing to address insecurity in the country.”
Following Mark’s intervention, the President briefed the session.

Another source said: “The President told us that his administration was tackling the terror attacks from Boko Haram. He said unlike Niger Delta militants who can be identified, Boko Haram members have mingled with the society under one guise or the other and cannot be easily located.”

The source quoted the President as saying: “We are trying to address the insecurity; we are making efforts to tackle the Boko Haram menace via intelligence gathering. We are collaborating with some countries to get to the roots of these terror attacks and put the menace behind us.

‘We are on top of the situation; we will soon get over it. Terrorism is alien to our culture; we will address it once and for all.”
Tambuwal gave the vote of thanks, it was learnt, urging the President to take whatever steps necessary to address insecurity “and members of the National Assembly will back him”.

Tambuwal is quoted as saying: “We have heard you, Mr. President. We thank you for addressing insecurity. Security is for all of us. We will back you.”
On the removal of fuel subsidy, the source said, “the Speaker simply maintained that ‘we will meet and discuss it in our fora.”

He added: “The Speaker’s non-committal on fuel subsidy removal drew instantaneous applause from members of the House at the session.
“At the end of the day, senators and members of the House decided to keep the President in suspense. But that may be the end of the matter if care is not taken. The House is certainly opposed to the removal of fuel subsidy.

“But Jonathan also got the backing of the National Assembly members to fight terrorism and address insecurity in the land,” he added.
Yesterday’s meeting which lasted about two hours was held at the Banquet Hall of the State House.
Senator Ayogu Eze, chairman of Works Committee said though the meeting was inconclusive, “it is assumed that it is going to continue and I can see two or three more meetings before we can come to a comfortable platform.

“I want to let you know that this is a very useful exchange, very useful interaction and we hope at the end of the day, it will produce desirable results for our people.
“A whole lot of governance issues were discussed. We discussed security, subsidy and the issue of balancing the budget and just making sure that government works for the benefit of the people. It will be premature to say that we have failed to understand ourselves. This is the first interaction, we have listened to him (President) and we are going to take it further”, Senator Eze said.

He dismissed speculation of the attempted vote of no confidence on the President by the Senate, saying they were scandalised by the report. He said they only discussed security challenges since members were worried about the state of insecurity in the country.
“That (vote of no confidence) never came up in the Chamber of the Senate.

The Special Adviser to the president on National Assembly Matters, Senator Joy Emordi also dismissed the report that the legislators were planning to pass a no confidence vote on the president.

Besides the President, some members of the Federal Executive Council at the session were the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala; the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke; the Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman; and the Minister of Youths Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi, among others.

Now is the time to change things around us. We can now produce anything and help ourselves and others in this Country...