By  OKEY NDIRIBE & Victor Ahiuma-Young
ABUJA—The Nigeria Labour Congress has challenged the Federal Government to subject the raging debate over whether or not the subsidy on the price of fuel should be removed to a referendum even as it accused the Federal Government of deliberately lying to the international community that it had not taken any decision on the controversial fuel subsidy removal.

This challenge was thrown Wednesday by the President of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Comrade Abdulwaheed Omar, while responding to the recent remarks of Minister of Petroleum Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke  in Australia.

He further stated that even though the Minister’s statement that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan could not please the people all the time,  “the removal of oil subsidy will displease 99 percent of Nigerians.”

Dismissing the Minister’s claim that the Federal Government had not taken a decision on the removal of oil subsidy and that no date has been fixed for the removal, he said that  President  Jonathan in a recent  letter to the National Assembly on the Medium Term  Expenditure Framework of his  administration stated categorically that the government had decided to remove fuel subsidy and that the take off date is January 2012.

The NLC boss also cited a speech made by  the President on his way to the Commonwealth Summit in Perth, Australia, in which he had said that fuel subsidy must be removed as the alternative is the collapse of the economy.