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Sudden &
Unilateral Withdrawal of Petroleum Subsidy – Signal of an
emerging Dictatorship ,says Sen Adetunmbi
Press Release Wed
Jan 4,2012
In total disregard to the on-going
consultative process of the Senate to dig deep into the fiscal
challenges of fuel subsidy to the economy, the FGN has brusquely
gone ahead with the removal of petroleum subsidy with effect
from January 1 2011.
With a failed attempt to argue with facts
and figures and persuade the country, the president acted
peremptorily and makes nonsense the effort of the Senate to get
to the bottom of the perennial fraud of subsidy management which
the senate committee on petroleum is trying to unearth.
The exclusion of the National Assembly from
this far-reaching economic decision when the 2012 budget is
still under consideration represents poor political judgment on
the part of the President and his Advisors. This unilateral
decision runs against the grains of inclusive and representative
democracy. It smacks of executive
arrogance in total disregard of the
feelings of the people.
The sudden removal of subsidy is contrary
to earlier affirmations from the President and the Minister of
Finance that the policy was undergoing review and that
consultation was ongoing with an indicative date of April 2012
as the likely time of implementation. In a manner totally
lacking in honour and integrity that is expected
of an elected government, the FG sprung a
New Year’s day surprise on a nation already reeling under the
brutal onslaught of Boko Haram and a worsening human development
indices.
This Senate has been sidelined in this
decision and its collective mandate as the representatives of
the people thoroughly rubbished.
The constitutional roles of the legislature is gradually
being eroded by a President that has the temerity to spend over
N800 billion on subsidy outside the appropriation act during the
yet to end
2011 budget. The NASS and the people have
asked questions and request for explanations for this
constitutional infraction to which the President is yet to
provide any answers.
Trust and confidence in democratic
institutions and its leadership which constitute the bedrock of
any viable democracy has been eroded by the ‘command and
control’ or ‘executive fiat’ style of the Jonathan’s Presidency.
The Senate must act to defend its constitutional independence or
else it will be rightly accused of complicity in the compromise
of our grand norm.
The Christopher Kolade led board which is
set to oversee the reinvestment of the subsidy windfall, though
well meaning, has no need of the prescribed NASS membership.
Asking the NASS to provide two representatives to serve on the
Governing Board of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment
Programme (SURE) is the tokenistic, patronizing and a subtle
attempt to drag the legislature into unpopular executive
decisions. It will undermine the independence of the Senate and
erode the potency of its oversight functions. This invitation is
a contemptuous act of impudence aimed at a tactical erosion of
the constitutional role of the legislature; it is an illegal and
surreptitious attempt to subordinate the legislature into the
unilateral tendencies of an increasingly dictatorial and
duplicitous Presidency. The national assembly must rise to the
challenge and save Nigeria from a slide into dictatorship.
Senator Olubunmi Adetunmbi
Ekiti North Senatorial District
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