BY Bunmi Aduloju
A Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) has asked the federal government to investigate petrol subsidy payments in the past years.
In a statement issued on Sunday by Basil Musa and Haruna Maigida, convener and co-convener, the coalition urged the federal government to probe the discrepancies recorded in the subsidy figures under the past and present administrations.
“In the history of Nigeria, this is the first time the fuel subsidy was removed with dire consequences as petrol pump price surged to over 35 per cent with its attendant hike in prices of foodstuff and other commodities,” the statement reads.
“This, the CSOs views as unsustainable as Nigerians can no longer live their average life due to difficulties.
“The coalition also called on the federal government to probe all fuel subsidy payments for the past years and ensure that all illegal payments are recovered for servicing of the country.
“This becomes necessary as the latest figure showed a drastic reduction in the consumption of litres of fuel per day after the fuel subsidy was scrapped by President Bola Tinubu on May 29.
“The coalition insists that it remains a mystery for litres of petrol consumption to have dropped from 66 million per day to 40 million.
“Investigation into activities of fuel subsidies will reveal the threshold of scam that has been existing in the oil and gas industry for several years which Nigerians are interested to see further reasons the subsidy should be removed.”
Meanwhile, the CSOs also decried their alleged exclusion by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) in the ongoing petrol subsidy negotiation with the federal government.
They said any agreement the NLC reaches with the federal government without carrying them along would not be acceptable.
The coalition, which comprises 65 different organisations, added that any negotiation done in the absence of CSOs would only end up serving the interest of NLC, leaving out Nigerians not captured.
The CSOs also raised concerns over the NLC’s planned salary increase for workers without taking into account, palliatives for individuals in the informal sector.
They asked the federal government to halt further negotiations with the NLC until the CSOs are included because they know the depth of the harsh living conditions of Nigerians.
They called on George Akume, secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) and other key government officials involved in the negotiations to convene an all-encompassing meeting with CSOs and other stakeholders as soon as possible to find a sustainable solution.
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