President Goodluck Jonathan is lobbying principal officers of the National Assembly to provide soft landing for his contentious plan to remove subsidy on petroleum products, LEADERSHIP SUNDAY has learnt.
A source who does not want his name in print told? LEADERSHIP SUNDAY: “The speaker and the Senate president are expected to have a meeting with the presidency and other stakeholders in the State House on the subsidy issue before it is discussed again by the two arms of the National Assembly.”
Besides, the three committees set up a few days ago by the Senate to investigate an alleged wastage of N1.5 billion on fuel subsidy by the presidency has concluded their work.
The Senate, according to its spokesman Senate Enyinanya Abaribe, would take its final decision on the burning issue on Tuesday.
The plan is contained in an omnibus 2012 budget estimate slated for presentation before a joint session of the National Assembly in a few days.
Senator Abaribe said the Red Chamber would make its decision on the subsidy matter on Tuesday. He said: “We have no such thing [division among senators]. Yes, there is an exchange of information, following the decision of the Senate to investigate the issue of subsidy.
“There are three committees working on this. These committees are supposed to send us information on that, and we will soon get it; but for now we cannot say the likely position of the Senate on that. Until the matter is brought to the floor of the Senate and debated, we cannot say what the decision will likely be. But we will make our decision Tuesday on the floor; after, the three committees will brief us on their report.”
The spokesman of the House of Representatives, Mr. Zakari Muhammed (Kwara/PDP), could not be reached at press time to comment on the same issue..
The fuel subsidy removal plan was reported last week to have split members of the National Assembly when Kwara State ex-governor Bukola Saraki raised a motion calling for a probe of an alleged N1.5billion already spent by the government.
Even the private sector is reported to have split on the idea. Last week, members of the organised private sector (OPS) were said to had gone their separate ways on the matter.
The director-general of the Employers’ Consultative Association, Mr. Olusegun Oshinowo, had declared on Tuesday last week: “It is important for the public to know that the OPS – including MAN, NECA, NACCIMA, NASSI and NASME – was neither invited nor represented in their institutional capacity at the said meeting held with government.”
Threats to remove fuel subsidy on petroleum products have been a recurring decimal with several governments in Nigeria, starting from the mid-1980s when military head of state Gen. Ibrahim Babangida held sway.
The issue of subsidy, though desirable, may cause more hardship for the masses, as petroleum product marketers would be at liberty to raise prices on petroleum products.
A case for the revamping of grounded refineries has also been made, while other stakeholders have continued to argue that the subsidy removal will ensure the products are sold at fairer prices and the money government would have pumped into subsidy invested in infrastructure.
The plea by government to provide palliatives to cushion the harsh effect of the policy has failed to fly with many Nigerians who do not trust the government to keep to its promise.