Judd-Leonard Okafor
1 December 2011
A coalition of civil society organisations, including ActionAid, and labour unions have demand federal government to stop attempts to remove fuel subsidy, arguing it will cause food scarcity, deepen poverty and pose health risks for millions of Nigerians.
They have promised mass action throughout December and next January to reach their goals.
Civil society groups today issued four demands to stop fuel subsidy removal, saying it wanted “absolutely no increases” in prices of petroleum products and electricity tariffs, according to United Action for Democracy, which runs We The People Campaign.
It also wants government to develop and promptly implement a three-year strategy and plans to acquire “domestic refining capacity to meet domestic needs” and export, in addition to doubling the country’s current capacity for power generation and distribution.
It also demanded “comprehensive investigation of the energy sector to expose wastage of “tens of billions of naira pumped into the sector since 1999.”
The coaltion also demanded a referendum to decide Nigeria’s economic direction and issues as deregulation, privatisation, basic services and infrastructure.
Mass action
The coalition, which also includes Activistas, Nigerian Youth League and Trade Union Congress, told a press conference it had planned mass actions this December and street protests next January.
The protests will be “generalised, prolonged and permanent” until all demands are met in a signed agreement with representatives of popular organisations in the anti-subsidy campaign.
ActionAid Nigeria has criticised the move. In a joint statement with Oxfam, it said removing the subsidy now or anytime in the future was “a direct attack on the poor.”
Tunde Aremu, policy and campaign adviser for ActionAid, said the removal would take away jobs, cause food scarcity and affect small businesses many Nigerians depend on.
“These places are going to shut down. More Nigerians will be deeper into poverty and those already in poverty will be pushed to the wall,” Aremu said.
In addition to higher cost for transport and energy, subsidy removal would also raise the cost of healthcare, “since hospitals will be forced to increase their charges” to meet the cost of fuel to power equipment.
He also said Nigerians could face “cases of rashes, cerebrospinal meningitis and many health conditions arising from heat” because of absence of energy and alternative means like the PHCN, undergoing privatisation, to generate it.
Aremu warned of “danger ahead” if government does not respond to calls to stop it inflicting hardship on the public.
“You can’t stand against a moving train, which is the movement of the people when it arises.”
Daniel Atilaka, founder of Nigerian Youth League, said subsidy removal was an issue countless youths have kicked against regardless of region and creed.
Head of Trade Union Congress in Abuja, Aliyu Abdulkareem, said they would not back down because “Nigerians have no right to be buying fuel for one hundred and sixty-five naira a litre.”
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