FEELERS in the oil industry indicate that Nigerians may start buying petrol for between N110 and N120 per litre, if President Goodluck Jonathan bows to the current pressure
on him for the removal of oil subsidy.
A source in the oil industry told Nigerian Tribune that the call by state governors for the removal of the subsidy as a precondition to pay the N18,000 new minimum wage was a climax to intense political manouevre in the corridors of power over the subsidy saga.
The source said the call by the governor was only meant to sell a dummy to members of the public with a view to gauging public pulse on the contentious issue.
According to the source, who pleaded anonymity, only the president could make a formal announcement on the withdrawal, since he is yet to name a substantive petroleum minister.
He added apart from the president, only a substantive petroleum minister and not the management of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) could announce the removal of the subsidy, if he deemed it necessary.
The source said: “There is no way Nigerians will buy fuel for less than N110 per litre if the subsidy is removed as long as the current price of crude oil in the international market hovers between $95 and $110 per barrel.”
The source claimed the feeling in the official circles was to gauge the pulse of Nigerians before possibly bowing to the governors’ demand.
Meanwhile, a legal practitioner and activist, Mr Festus Keyamo, lambasted the governor for making such a demand and even making it a pre-condition to peg the new salary for workers.
He accused them of taking delight at pilfering public fund at the expense of offering good governance and serving the people that elected them into office.
“Their call is very unpatriotic because that money they have been stealing is public fund. They should use that money that they have been stealing to pay their workers. They must pay the new minimum wage,” Keyamo fumed.
He likened the demand of the governors to robbing Peter to pay Paul and declared that Nigerians should frustrate the plot.
“What they are trying to do is that at the end of the day, they will increase the salary of workers while at the same time reducing the purchasing power of the people, because of the predictable ripple effects of removing the oil subsidy. Nigerians should resist it by mass action,” he stated.
However, the organised labour warned on Thursday that the state governors were inviting anarchy and unprecedented crisis in the country should President Jonathan acceed to their suggestion that the subsidy on petroleum products should be removed in order to bring more money to their purse to pay the new minimum wage.
The two labour unions in the country, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) vowed to resist such a move and lead the rest of Nigerians to also resist it.
Speaking with Nigerian Tribune on Thursday night, the Acting General Secretary of the NLC, Comrade Owei Lakemfa, and the President General of TUC, Comrade Peter Esele, said the two issues, minimum wage and fuel subsidy did not align and one cannot affect the other.
Comrade Lakemfa, who emphasised that the NLC would use everything in its power to lead Nigerians to resist it said: “Nigerians are already suffering, there are more poverty in the country. People are hungry and there are no social services. Should the government go ahead to remove subsidy, it will lead to fuel price increase.
“To add to the burden might be an attempt to ignite crisis. The Federal Government is advised to ignore the evil advice and suggestion by the governors.
“The governors want more money to share by placing additional burdens on the hapless and poverty stricken Nigerians. They want to over-burden the people. This is not the best way to increase money to the state government’s purse.
“For the governors to look for more money by adding money to the petroleum products price is not acceptable, they should rather be innovative to generate more money.
“Again, they must start paying the minimum wage with effect from April 2011. The NLC advise the federal, state, and local government, as well as other employers of labour who have more than 50 employees to start paying now because, if they delay, the arrears will be too much.”
The TUC president-general, Peter Esele, said “the issue of subsidy and minimum wage do not align at all. Minimum wage is law. The two cannot align at all and we believe they must obey the law.”
A former senator, Olorunnimbe Mamora, frowned on the call because of the multiplier effects of its removal, adding that if fuel subsidy was removed, it would cause social upheaval.
Senator Olabiyi Durojaye, in his claim, said if the government should remove the oil subsidy, the burden would be passed over to the masses.
Meanwhile, the Lagos Chambers of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government to publish the amount it spent on petrol subsidy.
The president of the LCCI, Chief Femi Deru, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Thursday, said the citizens were in the dark over the level of its involvement.
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