Buhari never directed petroleum subsidy removal – Senate President 

From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja.

President Muhammadu Buhari has not directed anyone in his administration to implement the removal of petroleum subsidy, Senate President, Ahmad Lawan has said.

He made the disclosure after a meeting the president at the presidential villa, Abuja Tuesday, where he said he went to convey the  feeling of constituents to him on some concerns including the proposed removal of subsidy.

Recall that the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, had announced last October that  the federal government has made provision for petrol subsidy only for the first six months of 2022 as the government looked towards complete deregulation of the sector.

“In our 2022 budget, we only factored in subsidy for the first half of the year; the second half of the year, we are looking at complete deregulation of the sector, saving foreign exchange and potentially earning more from the oil and gas industry,” the finance minister had said.

But speaking to State House Correspondents after the meeting with the President, Lawan said the lawmakers are worried about the different agitation and protests around the country, necessitating the discussion with the President.

The Senate President said he was glad to inform Nigerians that Buhari has not told anyone to remove petroleum subsidy.

He said: “Well, it will be of interest to Nigerians to hear what I’ve come to discuss with Mr. President among several other things.

“Many of us are very concerned with the recent agitations,  protests, and many citizens were so concerned, our constituents across the country are very concerned that the federal government will remove the petroleum subsidy. And for us, as parliamentarians, as legislators representing the people of Nigeria, this must be of interest to us.

“And we’ve just finished our recess, we had gone home to our constituencies and senatorial districts. And we felt 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 of concern to Nigerians, and I’m happy to inform Nigerians that Mr. President never told anyone that the petroleum subsidy should be removed.”

Continuing Lawan said, “I know and I agree that the subsidy is very heavy. But I think we must never transfer the burden to the citizens. I believe that we need to look at the quoted  figure of maybe 100 million litres that people claim we’re consuming. Is it real? I mean is it either under recoveries of subsidy? Is it really 100 million liters per day? How on earth 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 boundaries of Nigeria we are consuming 100 million liters. Probably neighboring countries maybe benefiting from this. Can’t we do something about it? It is a failure on us if we are not able to control it, this particular aspect of smuggling of the petrol and then in return, push the burden to the ordinary citizen.

“So I want to commend Mr. President, for still keeping this philosophy of ensuring that the most ordinary Nigerian does not suffer in any way. Government is meant to serve people. And the essence of governance we all know is to protect the lives and property and welfare of the people and that federal aspect is part of the welfare. It may not be exactly the way we want it in the implementation of subsidy. But that is our challenge as an administration as a government. So we need to come together, both the legislature the National Assembly, and those people and institutions and organizations that are responsible in dealing with this matter. To find a solution to this.”

Reacting to the Governors on the Platform of People Democratic Party (PDP), saying that the burden was too heavy for them, the Senate President said, “Well, that’s their 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 that the ordinary citizen should be the one to bear the burden. Those of us in government should come together and find a solution to this including the PDP states. And PDP as a political party, there must be an irreducible minimum level of partisanship. There’s a level at which you should not come down to, because of politics, no citizens first, preserve the people, preserve the country, then we can look for any office to govern, but we shouldn’t toy with lives of our people. I am very happy, very relieved with this meeting with Mr. President.”

On how soon the National Assembly will hold a stakeholders meeting  on subsidy, he said: “I agree with that. I’m not saying it’s not heavy it is. But do run away from challenges? That’s why you’re in government. So we should come together and find a solution to it now, it is for our administration, our party, to come together and involve every possible stakeholder and find out how we can reduce this. Because it’s not true that 100 million litres is consumed in Nigeria every day, it isn’t true. It’s not. Oh, no, no, no, no, we have to find a solution to this.”

Asked if there any other mechanism to find out, he said: “we have to find solution. Honestly, Nigerians have other challenges. And we shouldn’t put more burden on them. Government exists for providing suitable life, affordable life to people, and we should run away from that.”

When reminded that the subsidy regime has not been captured in 2022 budget and of Nigerians should  expect supplementary budget, the Senate President said: “No I will not speculate, but what I’m telling you is, it is a burden quite alright. And we have to work as an administration, we need to work hard to find a solution to it. We shouldn’t push this burden to the ordinary man. A 100 million litres of petrol every day in Nigeria, I can tell you is not correct. I don’t believe in that. If it is not so, what do we need to do, we have to sit down and deal with this so that we find a solution as a government, not to push it to the people. If we do that, because it’s easier to just say we remove it. But of course, we know our situation today.

“People are taking out this petrol outside of this country, the immigration, the customs, and everybody is supposed to be on their toe. Everybody should be on his toes. And we also need to mobilize our citizens, especially those at the borders. If you see something, say something, because these people are the ones that are causing us problems,  they’re smuggling this thing. They’re not flying with it, they’re following villages and roads. So we have to find a way so that the truth will be found. It can’t be 100 million liters. We can use the money freely for other things, especially social development, schools,  hospitals but if we don’t do something, how are we sure that it will not even become 200 million liters in future and by the time you remove, is going to put a whole lot of stress on the lives people.

Asked if the meeting development  is that subsidy regime will not be removed by the Buhari administration, Lawan said: “No, I’m not going to speculate on that. But I’m telling you, what I know, from my discussions with Mr. President, and I don’t want to go beyond that kind of understanding. He didn’t tell anybody that we should go and remove petroleum subsidy. And those of us who represent the people know how people are already stressed over and again, this is going to kill everyone even if people don’t say we know is going to be too much for them. So it’s our task. Are we not fighting in insurgency and terrorism? Is it not taking our money, is it not taking our resources. So it’s a challenge we need to fight, we need to deal with challenges. This is why we came into government. I don’t know what the solutions are, but we must find solutions. Somehow. This is our own task.”

On when National Assembly will send the electoral Bill back to the President for assent, Lawan said: “Well, I smile because that again, by the grace of God tomorrow (Wednesday) both chambers,  the Senate and the House of Representatives will pass the bill. And I hope that before the end of the week, the bill could be brought back to Mr. President for his assent. But one thing I’m sure by the grace of God is we are passing the bill, the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2010, tomorrow Wednesday the  19th in both chambers, and we are happy that at the end of the day, we have been able to narrow down our differences and arrive at the very patriotic resolution that our country must have a new electoral law that will guide the 2023 general elections in the country, and Nigeria would have everything to benefit from this law.

“And for us in the ninth assembly, the Electoral Act amendment bill is one of our major legislative agenda that we wanted to deal with in the ninth National Assembly, and to the glory of God Almighty Allah. By tomorrow (Wednesday), we will be able to pass that deal for Mr. president to assent to it. I hope that the cleaning process will not take more than a day. But if it does, then it has to be early next week. But I’m very optimistic that there is not much to clean because normally when we pass the bill like this, it goes to the legislative drafting unit of the National Assembly. So what you have in the National Assembly, as passed, is not the final document that comes to the President. And I know that many people were saying there were so many flaws in the bill that was brought to Mr. President. Maybe what they had was the bill passed in the Senate or in the house, not the one that was cleaned up, the final document that was cleaned up, because even us we didn’t have that document, we sign it up but I appreciate the efforts of all Nigerians in taking interest in what we do, and even participating by way of looking for what is right and what is not when we pass our bills, or in terms of legislative activities, generally.

“On the whole I think it’s a worthwhile exercise that we’ve worked so hard in a very bipartisan manner to pass the electoral amendment bill before and mr. president to raise the observations he did, and for the National Assembly, having consulted widely with Nigerians, with our constituents, and we came to the conclusion, in both chambers, across party lines, in a very patriotic way to say, so, what we need to do is not waste time, time is of essence in this respect, we should just look at the possibility of opening up the mode of primaries. So that you can have direct, you can have indirect and even consensus, and it’s up to political parties to decide which option is okay for them, and at what time, but I’m sure that all the options will be used, all the options will be used by political parties, in different occasions or whatever.”