The Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) has said that any action taken to remove fuel subsidies must directly benefit the public, not just a few wealthy individuals and their cronies.
Governor of Ekiti State and chairman of the forum, Kayode Fayemi, revealed this when he met with the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in Abuja on Wednesday.
In a statement issued in Abuja, Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo, Head, Media and Public Affairs, NGF, quoted Fayemi as saying that the country’s economy was on the verge of collapse, and that it had become necessary for the NGF and organized labor to verify the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s claim for fuel subsidy (NNPC).
According to Fayemi, governors must be part of the solution providers because subsidy removal has remained an on-going conversation.
“Nigerian governors cannot ignore the economics of petroleum, this is because all the countries surrounding Nigeria including Niger, Mali, Cameroon and Ghana have their fuel pump price that is equivalent to a U. S dollar, while Nigeria has a pump price that is far less than a dollar.
“We need a partnership with the NLC to confront the challenges of what the NNPC is about, because there is a lot of fraud in the consumption and distribution figures that the country is getting,” he said.
There will be progress, Fayemi said, if the NLC engages all those who are knowledgeable in the industry, such as PENGASSAN, and does a full research into the sector.
He, on the other hand, urged with the NLC to reconsider its intention to stage a statewide demonstration.
Fayemi encouraged them to work together with governors to analyze all of the factors affecting the subsidy elimination.
