Subsidy Removal: Prepare For Total Showdown —Sagay, Musa, Tell Nigerians

Nigeria is heading for another turbulent period as human rights activists and eminent Nigerians have told the masses to be prepared for another showdown against the government of President Goodluck Jonathan over plans to implement total fuel subsidy removal.

The president had said yesterday that there is no going back on total fuel subsidy removal.

Nigeria, world largest black nation and one of the leading producers and exporters of crude oil is faced with massive corruption which has crippled the oil sector, with non-functional refineries and relies on imported fuel.

Over half of the 150 million of her population struggles with squalor and poverty as a result of massive corruption by its leaders and with the planned total removal of fuel subsidy, more biting hardship is expected.

“I don’t know what the problem is with the federal government, they only think of themselves as less than one percent of the populace benefits from this fuel issue,” says Professor Itse Sagay, one of Nigeria’s foremost lawyers.

“What the president should think about now is how to provide enough refineries so that this issue of fuel importation should be removed.

“Jonathan belongs to the established class and they are doing this because of  the money they will get. It is a risky thing because he does not expect the people who will suffer to take this issue lightly.” He added that a showdown is inevitable.

“We should be prepared for another showdown because everyone knows that the people in government need money for themselves and they can only get the money through subsidy removal,” Alhaji Balarabe Musa, foremost activist chips in.

Mr. Bamidele Aturu, an activist and lawyer based in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, urges Nigerians to brace up for this new challenge to take the government by the jugular.

“Nigerians will certainly challenge this total fuel subsidy removal.  This government should not throw us into another crisis,” says Aturu.

Comrade Debo Adeniran, anti-corruption crusader challenges Nigerians to be ready for another struggle against a wicked government.

“This new move amounts to treachery as the government had said it will not enforce total removal. There is no reason why we should be led by a government full of deceit and lies,” an angry Adeniran says.

Festus Keyamo, a lawyer, did not mince words when he called on Nigerians to be prepared for another battle with government over this new move.

“It means what they have been doing, charging people to court is to prepare us for total fuel subsidy removal. They want to shift the whole thing on Nigerians. We should be prepared to go back to Ojota again,” he said.

Comrade Biodun Aremu, an activist, challenges the masses to rise up once again to prevent the government from imposing another hardship on them.

Mr. Joe Igbokwe, a stalwart of Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, the nation’s foremost opposition party, laments that “Nigeria is a regrettable case study in poor leadership, inefficiency and maladministration.

“The so-called oil subsidy, a policy put in place to benefit all Nigerians as an oil producing country has become a fraudulent meal ticket for just few Nigerians for years now.

“The oil subsidy scam is messy, it stinks, it is mind boggling and it is a clear indication that effective leadership is the lacuna in Nigeria.

“If the president says he is removing subsidy totally, it means that he does not realize that a good government is measured by the welfare of the entire citizens.”

Igbokwe added: “the proposed total removal of oil subsidy because we lack the political will and the courage to deal with the scammers and fish out the civil servants who approved all the fraudulent vouchers shows the depth of the rot in the system.”

By Kazeem Ugbodaga