BY Paul Odenyi

ABUJA-All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, has joined the swelling clan of groups asking the Federal Government to shelve its planned removal of oil subsidy saying it will spell doom for the ordninary man in the country.

National Chairman of the Party, Dr. ogbonnaya Onu said Tuesday at a news conference on the state of the nation that the plan coinciding with similar one by the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, to increase tariff on its services amounts to insentivity towards the poor living condition of Nigerians.

Ognonnaya said governors of the party from Zamfara, Borno and Yobe states have been contacted on the position of the party and will be part of the battle against the move by the Federal Government.

He said: “We are worried about the intention of the Federal Government to remove fuel subsidy by January, next year. After a careful assessment of the proposed policy, it is our view that such an action is wrong and if implemented will further worsen the already deteriorating living conditions of the ordinary Nigerian.”

“Removal of fuel subsidy will affect all Nigerians. It will adversely affect the cost of living for all Nigerians as the cost of food items, cost of transportation, cost of building materials, cost of labour, among many others, will rise sharply.

“It should be recalled that the National Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, had recently announced its plan to have Nigerians pay more for electricity as tariff will be increased in January, next year.

“It is our view that both actions, which will sharply increase the cost of living for Nigerians, that are intended to take effect at the same time does not portray the Federal Government as being sensitive to the worsening living conditions of Nigerians.

“The burden will be crushing and the pain intensely severe.  Already, Nigerians are suffering too much. Increases in both the price of fuel and electricity tariff at the same time will adversely affect the living conditions of our people and unleash further untold hardship on a citizenry already groaning in an economy that is characterized by high inflation, joblessness and insecurity.

“We need to remind all that the primary responsibility of any responsible Government is to enhance the welfare of its citizens. We do not see how the removal of fuel subsidy will achieve such a purpose in view of yet another plan by the same Government to increase the tariff for electricity consumption at the same time.

the party also urged the federal government to be wary of the events happening around the world many of which emanated from poor living conditions in those countries.

“We advice the Federal Government to put in place measures that will ensure that refineries in our country are working such that we can have competition in our local refining capacity. Why do we produce crude oil in our country, but continue to import refined petroleum products from outside our dear country? Is it not worrisome that we cannot accurately account for the crude oil that leaves our shores?

“Why is it difficult for our citizens to get full benefit for every barrel of crude oil that we produce? We believe that when we refine crude oil here in Nigeria , the actual cost of refined petroleum products will emerge that will help us determine the eventual and true cost of marketing our petroleum products on a sustainable basis.

“As things are at the moment, there are too many deficiencies and leakages in the system which needs to be checked, plugged and addressed in order to strengthen our economy. We do not see any reason why our existing four refineries cannot be made to function.

“We also cannot understand why government after government has continued to import refined petroleum products into the country at the expense of job creation and the happiness of Nigerians. Also it cannot easily be explained why construction work has not commenced, as originally planned, on the proposed three Greenfield Refineries.

“As a nation, we cannot embark on any journey for the mere sake of doing so without looking at where it will lead us, the route to take and the mode of transport to use. Today, our memories are still fresh with our sad experience in the privatization process we embarked on some few years ago.The exercise did not yield the result we desired because we did not do what we were supposed to do before embarking on it. We therefore call on the Federal Government not to remove fuel subsidy as planned.

The party also said it is concerned with the spate of insecurity in Zamfara state where lives and properties are being lost.

“Also, we are worried about the growing incidence of insecurity in some parts of Zamfara State where precious human lives and valuable property have been lost and destroyed as a result of attacks by persons from outside the country.

“As a nation, we cannot fold our arms and allow people from outside the country to spill the blood of our citizens for any reason. Our citizens have the inalienable right to live without fear in any part of the country of their choice.

“We call on the Federal Government to take prompt measures to address this security challenge in Zamfara State before it spreads to other parts of the country, especially in view of recent security challenges facing the nation. As a matter of urgency, we call on the President to ensure that security forces are deployed to the affected areas to contain the situation and also to ensure that appropriate surveillance measures are put in place to check its spread.

“We commend the efforts so far taken by the Zamfara State Government to arrest the situation. We are solidly behind the State Governor who has shown dynamism and worked tirelessly to contain the situation in the affected areas of the State. We urge him not to relent in his efforts until the problem is solved. We commend the good people of Zamfara State , who have remained calm in the face of this unwarranted attacks by people from outside our dear country,’’ he said.