Government’s Call To Remove Fuel Subsidy ‘Absurd,’ Says Nigeria Labour Congress

Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has slammed the government for the "uncharitable" idea of removing fuel subsidy.

Emma Ugboaja, who serves as general secretary of NLC, said the government shouldn't increase the fuel prices under the pretext of subsidy removal, and added the trade unions would never accept this.

"It will be uncharitable in 2023 for any government to talk about subsidy or no subsidy for a product that is naturally and thoroughly well-endowed in Nigeria," he said, during an interview held in Lagos on Tuesday, The Guardian reported. "It smacks of wickedness for us to be discussing subsidy as an issue, rather than discussing production."

Ugboaja slammed the government for the energy and resources that were going into discussing subsidies, which, in turn, showed a lack of focus and seriousness.

He went on to explain that the government should comprise only those people, who will make proper use of natural endowments rather than discussing the "cosmetic challenge of subsidy or no subsidy."

"It is absurd," he continued. "One would have thought that people should be setting before the incoming government a genuine challenge on how to move Nigeria forward, not for us to continue in the rigmarole of vicious, musical chairs and absurd comedy of subsidy or no subsidy. We cannot be people that do not respond to records."

Ugboaja questioned the government that stepped down in 2016, which claimed they had removed the subsidy. He said NLC noted at that time there was "no subsidy to remove and that what people were harping on was a price hike."

"They had told us that they removed the subsidy in 2016, so what subsidy are they removing or are we discussing now?" he asked, before explaining the government should be discussing "how to refine crude oil in Nigeria and make the product available for domestic consumption."

The general secretary said anything that was discussed outside this shows the "wickedness of the kind of intellectuals" in the government.

"We feel sick each time we see normal people come out on national television giving theories on subsidies and how they can be ploughed into healthcare or education," he added.

Ugboaja urged all the Nigerians to stop this vicious cycle of humiliation and slavery, reiterating there was no subsidy for anybody to be removed. Instead, the government should work on the refining process, saying that it was not "rocket science" to understand, he added.

"We hear them on an almost daily basis say Taskforce has demolished or destroyed certain numbers of refineries in Niger Delta creeks," Ugboaja said. "Why can't you use our universities to process quality control, why will you not use our universities to process cheaper and smaller processes of refining?"

He concluded by saying that since 2016, NLC has been calling this subsidy removal a fraud and once again if there is any increase in petrol price from the government in the name of subsidy removal, then the organization will challenge it.

President Muhammadu Buhari will step down from his position in May and the new administration of President-elect Bola Tinubu will be in power.

Buhari announced his plan to remove subsidies in 2022 as part of fiscal and petroleum sector reforms, but abandoned it because of fears of protests during the presidential election held on Feb. 25.