Bayelsa Gov Warns FG On Subsidy Removal

By James Orji

Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa state has warned the federal government not to go ahead with the plan to remove subsidy on petrol. He said the Buhari’s administration will throw many Nigerians into poverty if it implements the policy, set to take off by the middle of next year.

The Minister of Finance and Budget, Zainab Ahmed, said last month that the federal government will pay most vulnerable Nigerians N5000  monthly to help them cope after the subsidy regime is ended. The federal government said the over one trillion spent on subsidy annually could be channeled to critical sectors such as education, health and infrastructure to make the lives of many Nigerians better.

The Bayelsa’s helmsman took a different position from the Nigerian Governors’ Forum, NGF which has backed subsidy removal.

The forum, said last week, that the removal of petrol subsidy will free up more resources for state governments. The forum’s chairman, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state, said one of the areas the governors are looking at, is to use whatever is saved from subsidy to pay the arrears of pensioners in the country.

But speaking on the issue, Diri at the end-of-year meeting of the Bayelsa Elders Council in Yenagoa, said ending the subsidy regime will further impoverish many Nigerians and thrown them into untold hardship, adding that the subsidy issue shold be addressed on state-bystate basis.

The federal government “should rather re-calibrate the subsidy deductions based on volume of petroleum products consumed by each state,” Diri said.

In a communique released after NGF meeting, last week, Fayemi said the governors have resolved to include settlement of all outstanding pension obligations as part of the social compact with citizens for the removal of fuel subsidy.

The governors affirmed their support for the federal government’s transport palliative scheme.

Fayemi said, “on the strategy to build a sustainable Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for State Governments that will also be capable of clearing outstanding pension liabilities, members listened to a presentation by the Chief Executive of AVA Capital, Mr Kayode Falasinnu, and resolved that the settlement of all outstanding pension obligations should be included as part of the social compact with citizens for the removal of fuel subsidies.

“With respect to the required legal and institutional changes required to facilitate a successful CPS transition in all States, State Commissioners of Finance will be mandated to ensure that States meet the guidelines for the implementation of Contributory Pension Schemes by State Governments, including the enactment of a pension law, the establishment of a pension board and the adoption of a transition framework for each State,” he said.