Senate President Ahmed Lawan assured Nigerians that the subsidy to Petroleum Motor Spirit, PMS, will not be removed for now, as reported by some social and mainstream media.
Lawan said this when answering questions from House of Representatives correspondents after a closed–door meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, Mr. Buhari has not authorized anyone to eliminate the fuel subsidy as is speculated in some quarters.
He said, “Well, it will be of interest to Nigerians to hear what I have come to discuss with Mr. President, among other things. Many of us are very concerned about the recent unrest and protests.
“And many citizens were so concerned; our constituents across the country are very concerned that the federal government will eliminate the oil subsidy.
“And for us as parliamentarians, as legislators representing the people of Nigeria, this must be in our interest.
“And we just finished our recess; we had gone home to our congressional and senatorial districts.
“We feel the pulse of our people. And I found it necessary to visit Mr. President, as the leader of our government and our leader in the country, to discuss this particular issue that is of concern to Nigerians, and I am pleased to inform Nigerians that Mr. President never told anyone that oil the subsidy must be eliminated.
According to him, although the PMS subsidy is heavy, the burden cannot be transferred to ordinary citizens.
“I know and I agree that the subsidy is very heavy. But I believe that we should never transfer the burden to the citizens.
“I think we need to look at the quoted figure of maybe 100 million liters that people say we are consuming. Is it real?” he asked.
Lawan insisted that he was not convinced that Nigerians consume so much per day, adding that there may be some level of sabotage involved.
“I mean, are these subsidy recoveries? Is it really 100 million liters per day? How the hell are we consuming that? We need to look at this critically and see how we can find the truth.
“Because I am not convinced that within the borders of Nigeria we are consuming 100 million liters a day. Neighboring countries are probably benefiting from this. Can’t we do something about it?
“It’s a failure if we can’t control it, this particular aspect of smuggling is gasoline and then in return pushing the load onto the common citizen,” he added.
Lawan praised the president for always showing concern for the plight of Nigerians.
“So I want to congratulate Mr. President for continuing to uphold this philosophy of ensuring that the most common Nigerian does not suffer in any way.
“Government is meant to serve the people. And the essence of government law that we all know is to protect people’s life, property and welfare. And that federal aspect is part of welfare.
“It may not be exactly how we want it in the subsidy implementation. But that is our challenge as an administration and as a government,” he added.
On recent comments from some state governors, calling for the immediate removal of the fuel subsidy, Lawan said, “Well, that’s his opinion. And they had their time. They should have done something about it.
“Now we have to do something about it. I have admitted that the burden is heavy. But I don’t think the average citizen should be the one to carry the load.
“Those of us in government should come together and find a solution to this, including the PDP states. And the PDP as a political party, there must be a minimum of irreducible partisanship.
On the new election bill vetoed by the president, Lawan expressed optimism that an amended election bill may be returned to the president next week for approval.
