Members of the National Assembly yesterday pointedly told President Goodluck Jonathan, at a meeting in the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, to forget anything to do with removal of the contentious subsidy on petroleum products. The lawmakers advised him to concentrate on, and even double his effort at, tackling the worsening security situation in the country.
The Senate, through its spokesman Enyinnaya Abaribe, debunked reports that the lawmakers moved to pass a vote of no confidence on the president. He said: “Come to think of it; confidence vote tradition only applies in a parliamentary system of government and not in a presidential system as practised in Nigeria.”
But a source disclosed that the meeting between the president and all members of the National Assembly from both chambers (Senate and House of Representatives), which lasted a little over an hour, was marred by incoherence and unconvincing reasons by the president to remove the subsidy.
The lawmaker, who sought anonymity because of the nature of the issue, said: “The president advanced reasons ranging from the fact that the country’s economy could collapse within months if the subsisting subsidy on petroleum products were not removed now, but he failed to convince the lawmakers. He was not punchy, he was not convincing and nobody bought his reasons.”
He added that the president solicited the support of the lawmakers despite the pin-drop silence that pervaded the hall, which signified that his message was coldly received and could not make any sense to all. He said, “His message was disappointing and we did not take it.”
The senate president, David Mark, was said to have come to the rescue of the president when he mildly told him, “We have heard what you said sir, but we have to go back and digest the message. In any case, we urge you to do something about the security situation in the country. That is the most important thing for now.”
Again, the source said, the president was told to make himself clearer and present lucid facts and figures to support the reasons for the removal of the subsidy. “He was told that his facts and documents were sketchy and blurred and failed to addresses certain fundamental economic indices in such circumstance as subsidy removal”.
The Senate had, after an hour-long closed – door session, announced that it would be meeting with the executive arm of government over the ugly development. It was also learnt that the president had appealed to the leadership of both chambers to support the subsidy removal, but was coldly rebuffed.
“Instead, the NASS leadership asked him to appeal directly to all the lawmakers. He agreed to meet them at the executive chambers, Presidential Villa, at about 2.30pm tomorrow (today),” said the source.
It was further learnt that the lawmakers had warned that removing of subsidy at this time of precarious security situation was insensitive and could spell doom for the country. “The general disposition is against the move and we shall convey that to him,” the source added. The outcome of the meeting seems to have confirmed the insistence of the lawmakers against the subsidy removal.
LEADERSHIP further learnt that Jonathan had earlier deployed foot soldiers to carry out the task of convincing the members to accept deregulation, but decided to do the job himself because he didn’t trust them to deliver on the assignment.
According to another source, who was present at the meeting, Jonathan failed to convince the lawmakers to see reason with the presidency on the need to remove subsidy which, he said, Nigeria could no longer afford to sustain and that if the country doesn’t go ahead with the plan, it may end up being broke in 15 years from now.
But according to the source who is also a top ranking lawmaker “The president said that the main reason for calling the members of the National Assembly is to urge them to support the presidency’s plan to remove fuel subsidy come next year. But lawmakers, from their reaction to the president’s proposal, showed that they did not support the policy.
It was also gathered that members of the House of Representatives led by the speaker, Hon Aminu Tambuwal, also made a point in favour of Nigerians.
When asked by President Jonathan if they, members of the House, had anything to say on the presentation, it was gathered that Tambuwal said, “We have heard what you have to say and we are here to hear what you have to say.
We cannot give you a reply now but will go back and debate the proposal and get back to you. But be assured that the outcome of our debate is going to be in line with the wishes of Nigerians.”