Chief Emeka Wogu, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, on Tuesday said that the Federal Government would save about 6 billion dollars by removing fuel subsidy.
Wogu said this while declaring open the 5th Quadrennial National Delegates Conference of Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Association Institutions (NASU) in Abuja.
The theme of the conference is: “NASU beyond 2011- Setting an agenda for consolidation and progress”.
He said, “The figures that will be saved is six billion dollars, if the revenue formula is in place, Federal Government will now get 50 per cent of that amount.And the other 50 per cent will go back to finance for budget deficit and it is a lot of money.’’
Wogu added that the 50 per cent for the federal government would be domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria to be managed by eminent Nigerians, labour unions, youth organisations and the Nigeria Union of Journalists, among others.
He said that the issue of subsidy was not “an evil deal’’, rather it would stimulate the country’s economic growth.
“I will tell you to go and ask the Minister of Finance how much it has cost the Federal Government to support the importation of fuel, which is N1.3 trillion by the end of this year. Last year it was N600 billion, the previous year it was about N400 billion.”
He said that the country’s capacity to consume fuel was on the increase while the price of oil in international market had gone up.
“But we have located the reason why we need to remove subsidy, which is to improve on our local refineries capacities.
Wogu said that the four major refineries in the country located in Warri, Eleme, Port Harcourt and Kaduna were being rehabilitated.?
“What this government has done is to go back to the original people who made these refineries in the past because the new contractors have failed.’’
Mrs Ladi Iliya, the President of NASU, condemned the removal of fuel subsidy and the mass failure in examinations in the country.
Iliya urged the Federal Government to establish facilities for boosting education from primary to tertiary level.