Dis Guy:

The people making the money will probably be those importing petrol

would you like the govt to remove subsidies ?
_{N326billion subsidies,}

Dis Guy:

I'm not too sure how this works but the money bugdeted for most department is not enough and N326b will go along way
the problem with the fund is some governors claim. its illegal at the same time they want it 'shared'
The nass and ministry of finance are the ones holding nigeria back!
the only things the NASS can approve at this time is an increase in their salaries, anything else will be postponed!
and the finance is blabbing on about not wanting to release money because of inflation!

very soon Nigerians will show yaradua their true colours!

As Nigerians brace for another increase in the pump prices of petroleum products, civil society groups are calling for mass action to resist the increase.

Few days to the inception of President Umaru Yar’Adua’s government, the prices of the various products were increased, forcing the Nigerian Labour Congress and the civil society coalition to declare a mass action against the decision.

This forced the Federal Government to reduce the prices.

For instance Premium Motor Spirit otherwise called petrol was reduced from N75 per litre to N70.

The Federal Government also agreed with the labour leaders that there would be no increase for a period one year. This June marks the end of that period and there are indications that the government is surreptitiously increasing prices of petroleum products, starting with diesel.

Diesel now sells for between N140-N200 per litre and civil society groups have collectively agreed to fight the Federal Government before it would make official announcement on the price increase.

Though the diesel price hike is unofficial, they believe it might be a ploy by the government to test the people’s pulse before the actual announcement of the price increase.

Reacting to this development, the South-West Co-ordinator of the United Action for Democracy (UAD), Comrade Wale Balogun explained to P.M.News that the upper class in Nigeria is insensitive to the plight of the people.

According to him, the hike reflects a neo-colonialist system where neo-liberalism is practised for the purpose of profit maximisation by a few.

The Western world, he said, still dictates to Nigeria for the benefit of the few who keep holding to power. “They have started campaigning again for (fuel) price increase. The discovery of oil has become a curse than a blessing to the Nigerian people,” he said.

While calling for a mass action against the impending price increase, he said: “They are squeezing lives out of the people. No governor has achieved anything in the last one year. We have to be ready to sack this regime. There is no justice in Nigeria. There is no hope for Nigerians and the black race,” he added.

Comrade Gabriel Ojumah of the Citizens Right Watch (CRW) says government’s excuse for increasing fuel price remains the failure of the local refined products in the country’s refineries to meet up with the domestic needs of the people, thus prompting importation of the products at huge costs.

“The irony is that the world’s 8th largest producer of oil became one of the world highest importers of petroleum products. What a shame. This goes to show the incompetence and corruption in the system,” Comrade Ojumah said.

Furthermore, the comrade said, “misfits have been given sensitive appointments for no other reason than that they are PDP chieftains. Why is it on this one issue (fuel) that concerns the rest of us the masses that political solution has become unacceptable? Is petrol not more important to us all than PDP? For all we care, PDP can go up in flames, we still have many other political parties to choose from.”

Comrade Dagga Tolar of the Democratic Socialist Movement (DSM) declares that Nigerians should not wait for the announcement of the increase before taking action.

He tasked the NLC to begin a mass agitation, adding “organising the working masses for a revolutionary overthrow becomes inevitable since we do not trust this system and leadership.”

According to him, the ideas and philosophies of those who govern the people determine whether the people “ate bread or not. Those who produce goods and services have the philosophy that they are only interested in their profit rather than satisfy the people’s needs,” adding that these same people have seized the Labour unions, saying the NLC made a mistake to have entered an agreement with the government on when next to increase fuel price.

The civil society groups stated that the major problem militating against a permanent solution to the incessant price increase was that the leadership of the labour union was being corrupted by the government. “The only way out is for the masses to move themselves away from this class and look for an alternative since the situation is rotten to the bone.

“A crisis is bound to come one day in Nigeria and Nigerians would take to the streets and fight,” one the groups said.

This call for mass action comes in the wake of a submission by constitutional lawyer, Prof. Ben Nwabueze, that Nigerians should be ready for a revolution.

Meanwhile, in view of the prevailing scarcity of petroleum products, especially kerosene and diesel in the Western part of the country, stakeholders of the Petroleum Products Marketers Corporation (PPMC), Western Zone, have called on the immediate intervention of the Federal Government and the concerned bodies.

In an open letter to President, Umaru Yar’Adua, after a stakeholders’ meeting comprising the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Petroleum Tanker Drivers Branch of NUPENG (PTD) and Independent Marketers Branch of NUPENG (IMB), they stated that the petroleum products distributed in the Western Zone under NNPC system 2B, as it affects their business, has been critically viewed.

Although the stakeholders noted that there is a sharp reduction in the volume of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) being allocated to the NNPC and lack of proper surveillance on the petroleum pipeline on the part of the Federal Government, they agreed that there is non availability of Diesel and Kerosene which make the depots mono-productive for the past eight years.

It also identified excessive allocation of PPMC products to DAPMAN depots at the expense of the NNPC depots in system 2B.

Regarding the solution, the stakeholders urged the Federal Government to review upward, the volume of all grades of petroleum products for all depots in system 2B, in view of the daily consumption of petroleum products and that diesel and kerosene should be made available in all the depots without further delay.

Having noted that the defective separator at Mosini Depot has been responsible for non-pumping of the petroleum products to those under system 2B, the PPMC stakeholders further urged the Federal Government to replace the obsolete separator to allow its adequate pumping of kerosene and diesel.

“The Federal Government is pleased to announce the extension of the moratorium on the current N70 per litre pump price of petrol ahead of the expiration of the agreement between it and the organised labour with an agreement in principle that the pump price will be adjusted by 1st January 2009.”
“The constructive engagement of all stakeholders in handling the issue of pump price has yielded this laudable gesture by the Federal Government. The announcement should put to rest the rumours making the rounds that a hike in the pump price of petrol was imminent since the accord reached between the labour and the Federal Government will expire on June 24th 2008.
“I want to urge the organised labour, all stakeholders and indeed all Nigerians to appreciate the efforts of the Federal Government in this regard.
“This gesture also portrays the present administration as responsive to the feelings of Nigerians.”
He stated that the continued subsidy on fuel would cost the government about N500 billion, attributing the reappearance of long queues at filling stations to fears of a petrol price increase.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had in the twilight of his administration last year increased the price of petrol from N65 to N75 and increased the Value Added Tax (VAT) from five per cent to 10 per cent.

“The Federal Government is pleased to announce the extension of the moratorium on the current N70 per litre pump price of petrol ahead of the expiration of the agreement between it and the organised labour with an agreement in principle that the pump price will be adjusted by 1st January 2009.”