Fuel Subsidy Removal Splits The Senate

The looming lack of unanimity among senators on the proposed removal of the subsidy on petroleum products by the Federal Government became obvious Tuesday as most of the lawmakers expressed divergent views on the matter.

While considering President Goodluck Jonathan’s request for approval of the 2012-2015 Medium Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF) and fiscal strategy paper of the government, the senators maintained divergent stands on the fuel subsidy issue, which is already a subject of heated national debate.

The House of Representatives had while debating the medium term fiscal framework last week voted against the government’s plan to remove fuel subsidy.

Though the senate failed to adopt any official position on the issue, it however passed the MTEF request to its Joint Committee on Finance, Appropriation, and National Planning to look into the proposal and submit its report to the plenary next week.

When the request was tabled on the floor for consideration, Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi (ACN, Ekiti) made a move to stop debate on it, saying it would be pre-emptive of the outcome of the investigation of a Senate joint committee, which is currently probing the management of fuel subsidy in the country. Adetunmbi’s bid was however frustrated by Senate President David Mark who set the mood for the debate.

Mark, in response, stated that the removal of fuel subsidy was not the only issue in the framework, insisting that the framework could be debated very effectively and very well without the report coming from the joint committee investigating fuel subsidy management. Following this, the senate went ahead with comments on the fiscal framework.

Senators who support removal of fuel subsidy, which was part of MTEF, said considering the amount of money spent on the scheme by the government, it was obvious that the programme is not in the interest of masses but merely serving the interest of the elite who only make up about two to three per cent of the country’s population. But senators who opposed the proposal said it is not in the interest of the masses because it would increase their hardships, adding that the only thing the common man is benefiting in the country is fuel subsidy and that its removal as proposed in MTFE may be too much for Nigerians to bear.

Speaking in support of removal, Senator Ayogu Eze said if the government did not remove subsidy at this particular point in time it will come to a time in the country that NNPC will not be able to bear the cost again. Also supporting fuel subsidy removal, Senator Emmanuel Paulker (PDP, Bayelsa) noted that majority of Nigerians were not benefiting from the scheme which he said is benefiting the country’s upper class. Paulker said: “The masses are not enjoying the subsidy… We are heading for the rocks. If state governments have said they can no longer sustain subsidy, there’s nothing we can do because we cannot legislate for the states. We don’t have the power to do so and we can’t force them to support subsidy.”

In his own contribution, Senator Awesu Kuta said government should have a second look at the approach, saying that removal should not be sudden but gradual until Nigerians are able to know the benefits. Kuta said: “I want government to look at this approach. If they will do it let it be gradual. I support the framework but for the removal of subsidy.”

Senator Abu Ibrahim (CPC, Katsina) who also kicked against the removal in the 2012 budget said the proposal is not in the interest of his people because he has interacted with them from nine out of 11 local governments in his senatorial district and they are against it.

Senate Minority Whip, Senator Ganiyu Solomon (ACN, Lagos), expressed the need to be thorough in looking at the MTEF proposal, saying: “There are lots of questions that need to be answered, as there is no way we will discuss this framework without talking of subsidy.” Most of the senators who spoke on the MTEF applauded the federal government, saying the document will enable the Federal Government to be focused on capital projects in the country so that the country agenda of vision 2020 can be realised.

Senator Bassey Otu (PDP, Cross River), who described the document as very good, said the framework contains measures that will lead to the economy to witness tremendous growth if effectively implemented. He said the purpose of the document was to enable government free some funds from excess expenditure on recurrent expenditure and channel same for capital and infrastructural development and urged his colleagues to approve it.

In his concluding remarks before committing the document to the senate joint committees on Finance, Appropriation and National Planning, Mark frowned on the size of the federal bureaucracy, which he described as grossly over bloated and urged his colleagues to make every effort to reduce it.

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