NLC disagrees with IMF on fuel subsidy removal

• Warns FG against increase of petrol pump price

The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) has disagreed with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) on proposal for removal of subsidy on petroleum products in Nigeria. The arm of the Organised Labour, therefore, admonished the Federal Government against accepting and implementing the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund.
NLC President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba at a news conference on Saturday in Abuja, with the headline: “Public Declaration of Nigeria’s Host of the 6th African Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, Sept. 23 to Sept. 25 and Inauguration of Local Organising Committee (LOC)” said that the continued devaluation of the Nigerian currency had created the
impression of the existence of subsidy.

He said that as long as the value of the Naira was left to market forces, the issue of subsidy would continue in the country.

The NLC President advocated that the federal government should make efforts to upgrade the refineries in the country.
“As President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), I recently led organised labour across the world to a meeting with the IMF and the World Bank.

“I told them point blank that their one-stop recommendation on subsidy removal and other sundry policy recommendations to the third world are not working and will not work,” the NLC President declared.

Wabba stated that there is no country in the world where IMF’s recommendations had worked “or are working.’’ He cautioned that Nigeria should be cautious in considering the options suggested by the IMF.

Wabba declared: ‘’I saw that many media houses are trying to amplify that the IMF has recommended that subsidy should be removed.

“In the first instance, is there subsidy? This is a question we have not been able to answer.

“I want to corroborate with what President Buhari said years back that subsidy is actually corruption and that whoever is subsidising is aiding corruption and we stand by that position.
“In fact, that has remained a consistent position of NLC. We can kill that issue of subsidy if we refine our products for our domestic use and it is not rocket science.

“Very soon, we are going to forward a document to the government on that.”

The Labour leader said that “countries like Venezuela are celebrated because they stood their ground on policies that must work for the people and not for the capitalist.” He decried: “our own case is a sorry one and the situation is even laughable.”

Wabba further lamented: “You own crude oil, you pay for it to be extracted from the ground, you pay for it to be taken outside to be refined, you pay for tax to where you took it to and you also pay to bring it back to your country for consumption.

“This is simply the pathetic story of Nigeria. God Almighty has
already given us this resource in abundance, why should our citizens have to suffer to get it for use?

“In the first place, we should only be talking about subsidy if
actually we do not produce this product.

“But whereas we are producing it and in abundance in that matter, yet we suffer like we don’t even own a drop of it.

“This is the shameful ordeal Nigerians go through. It is really a funny situation.”

Wabba argued that if petroleum is refined in the country, subsidy would not exist in government policies.

On the public declaration of Nigeria as the host of the forthcoming meeting, the NLC President said: “We must never forget the sacrifice of Cuban people for the liberation of most African countries. “Also, for decades, Nigerians have been beneficiaries of Cuban government scholarships and education, most especially in the medical field.”