The Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room yesterday expressed concern over the N1.23 trillion the federal government has announced it would spend for the fuel subsidy for the 2012 fiscal year.
The Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) executive secretary, Mr Reginald Stanley had on Monday? disclosed that the federal government may spend N1.23 trillion on fuel subsidy payments by the end of the 2012 fiscal year.
While briefing Journalists in Abuja yesterday, the civil society led by Mr Clement Nwankwo, Yemisi Ransome-Kuti , Professor Patricia Donli and Ezenwa Nwagwu said that the N1.23 trillion fuel subsidy payment in the current year is untenable considering the facts that less than 30% of fuel was supplied to the filing stations nationwide in the last four months.
‘’Is this not a continuation of the unsubstantiated fuel subsidy receipts Nigerians were made to bear in the 2011 fiscal year? Have the politicians so soon started building up their accounts against the 2015 elections, while using fuel subsidy as shield?
‘’The N2.6 trillion fuel subsidy payment in 2011 which has been the biggest scandal in the anal history of Nigeria and a? national embarrassment of the highest order was particularly linked to the 2011 elections.
The Situation Room is concerned that the government has shown inability to curtail the rising levels of corruption in Nigeria. The Situation Room is particularly worried that the issues and concerns raised by civil society groups during the January 2011 ‘Fuel Subsidy Protests’ are not yet addressed, and that huge sums of money are still appropriated from the federation account under the guise of payments for fuel subsidy.
The Situation Room also expressed concern over the escalating levels of kidnapping currently taking place in the country, saying the heightening state of insecurity is a sign of failure of governance.
The Situation Room observe that the local government system in Nigeria is critical to democracy and good governance at the grassroots levels, and should be made more functional and accountable;
The group also called for a policy to address the plight of People Living with Disabilities (PLWDs), and inclusion of women and youths in governance.
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