Bimbola Oyesola
Against the backdrop of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) calling for the removal of subsidy on petroleum products, workers in the oil sector have warned that subsidy removal at this time was clearly an attempt to destabilise the nation.
The workers, under the umbrella of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN), said that imposing more stringent reforms in domestic revenue mobilisation, including, among others, increase in VAT and securing more domestic oil revenues through subsidy removal in the present circumstance, would not be in the interest of Nigerians.
“The leadership of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association read with serious concerns and worries the reported statement made by the International Monetary Fund media chief for Africa on the state of Nigeria’s economy and the unsolicited poisonous advice on further recovery of the nation’s economy,” the unions said.
According to the oil workers’ unions, the statement by IMF has created panic in the country with associated hoarding of petroleum products, panic buying, and skyrocketing increases in prices of goods and services in the country.
“Clearly, IMF is speaking from the two sides of its mouth, in one breath, the media chief praises the significant progress the nation has made in terms of its gross domestic product that increased by 1.9 per cent in 2018 from 0.8 per cent in 2017 on the back of improvement in manufacturing and other economic policies of the government, while on the other hand offering poisonous advice on further economic recovery,” the unions stated.
The oil workers said it was bewildering and baffling that IMF was not considering the pains and agonies Nigerians went through even to achieve the acknowledged gains of 2018, with almost two-thirds of the world’s hungriest people among Nigerians.
“One wonders why IMF is still callously and wickedly advising the government to inflict more pains and harms on the people,” the unions said.
The unions said the statement credited to IMF was loaded with poisons, considering the antecedents of IMF in the country’s economic challenges and struggles over the decades.
It noted that the various devaluation of the currency on the strength of advice of the IMF has been a very big burden on the nation for several years now.
“The leadership of NUPENG and PENGASSAN are aware of what Nigerians are going through, we empathise with them and will not turn blind eyes to any further attempt to increase their pains and impoverish them further,” the unions warned.
The oil workers said they appreciate the efforts, commitment and determination of the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to put Nigeria in the right economic stead after several years of economic maladministration and mis-management.
According to them, ‘It is really heartwarming that these efforts are being widely acknowledge at home as demonstrated with his re-election for second term in office and globally, even by the IMF.”
The unions pleaded with Buhari to constantly put in mind the current hardship Nigerians are going through in the collective journey to economic recovery.
The unions stated further, “Be it known that any economic policy that is devoid of human feelings could lead to more social dislocations and upheavals, which, in the long run, becomes counterproductive as we are currently experiencing.”