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Nigerians deserve a better deal:We say no to a bad policy called
oil subsidy-CAPP
Press statement
Posted Fri Jan 6,2012
Nigerians were in the
middle of the day, on January 1, 2012 confronted with an
unprecedented and shocking increase in the price of petroleum
products from N65 to N150 and in many areas more. This increase
obviously will set the stage for a vicious round of price hike
for food, transportation and in fact everything that touches the
lives of Nigerians, thereby undermining their living standards
and well being.
Nigerians are now left
at the mercy of a few cabal called oil importers and, of course,
the grossly inefficient and highly corrupt NNPC and its
subsidiaries that will now seize this opportunity to continue to
hike prices in the name of market forces. Every sane person in
any clime would know that jerking petroleum prices such as
happened with the January 1, 2011 ambush is abnormal, and for
this reason should be condemned and rejected.
We are opposed to oil
subsidy removal because it will increase hardships the citizens
are already facing. We believe that there are cogent options and
alternatives to the policy that could be implemented without
inflicting punishment on the urban and rural poor and the
vulnerable; the unemployed, women and children. We are also
concerned that the policy did not follow due process, in terms
of consultations with the citizens and the representatives of
the people in the National Assembly. The policy is also not
transparent because it left so many questions unanswered, such
as: how come the government spent 1.3 trillion in 2011 alone to
pay oil importers in the name of oil subsidy, whereas for the
entire period 2003-2007, we have only used N300 million annually
for the oil subsidy; and why the funds appropriated by the
National Assembly for oil subsidy was overshot by more than four
fold. The policy
also lacks a single ingredient of good governance and democratic
tenets.
Oil subsidy, to be sure,
is only benefit the common people enjoyed from the government,
compensating for bad roads, dilapidated social infrastructure
and lack of adequate and regular power. It is inhuman, exposing
the populace to further hardships when no effort is being done
to ameliorate their deteriorating and debilitating living
conditions. CAPP, as an organization connected to the grassroots
and the communities knows the feelings of pains and anguish of
our communities such an ill-conceived policy has wrought upon
them. It is unacceptable that Nigerians are made to feel as if
they exist only at the behest of those they put in leadership
position in the first place.
By increasing the price
of petroleum products in the name of subsidy removal without
going after the corruption, the fraud and the misappropriation
in the system showed that the government which has supposedly an
elected one was not out
to serve the interest of the
of the citizens but those of a few cartel that now
monopolize oil importation. By removing the oil subsidy against
the wishes and aspiration of Nigerians across the board,
including religious and political leaders and elders clearly
demonstrated that the government t is fast transmuting into a
dictatorship which must be resisted. Nigerians did not shed
their precious blood under the military to flight for the
enthronement of democracy only to be replaced by another version
of a civilian dictatorship. By blatantly refusing to consult and
dialogue with the citizens over this very sensitive issue the
government has unwittingly broken the bond of trust and social
contract with the citizens, which is unfortunate.
We strongly object and
condemn in totality the use of brute force by the police and
other security agencies on innocent citizens who have come out
to legitimately voice out their objection against what they
rightly considered as a bad, inconsiderate and obnoxious policy.
We call on the authourities to stop forthwith trampling on the
fundamental and constitutional rights of the citizens just
because they want to force such a bitter pill down our throats.
We, therefore, demand
that a high powered judicial panel be instituted to bring all
those that violated people’s rights to justice. The callous
killings of young protesters in Ilorin and in Kano leaves and
sour taste in the mouth and must be probed; those security
personnel involved must be sanctioned, only to demonstrate that
we are not living in a jungle where might is right, and that
human life is sacred. It is ironical that President Goodluck
Jonathan that campaigned with the slogan that no political
ambition is worth a single drop of human beings is now
superintending a regime of police repression of the populace,
including loss of precious human lives.
CAPP calls on all
Nigerians to rise up and demonstrate absolute support to the
ongoing struggle for the reversal of the prices of petroleum
products to its original level of N65. CAPP wholeheartedly
supports the call of CSOs, the trade unions and all well meaning
Nigerians in the current fight against the clearly harsh and
dangerous policy and avoid a drift of the country to anarchy and
widespread misery. This fight for us is one that would rescue
our communities and the ordinary people from further
pauperization. It is also a struggle to rescue our country from
agents of international finance whose only goal is to continue
to enslave our nations and loot our God-given resources.
Nigerians must rise to defend their rights and the fact that
sovereignty belongs to the people, not some self-conceited
agents of external powers masquerading as technocrats and
economists.
Nigerians citizens deserve a better deal from their leaders.
Signed on behalf of
Community Action for Popular participation (CAPP)
Kyauta Giwa
Executive Director
ABUJA, January 6, 2012
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