The spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, Festus Keyamo, has challenged the Nigeria Labour Congress to declare its stance on fuel subsidy.
Naija News reports that Keyamo stated this in a statement on Sunday while reacting to the Labour Party Presidential flag bearer, Peter Obi, who said he would remove fuel subsidy if he emerges president.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment asked the leadership of the labour unions to tell Nigerians their position on Obi’s proposed plan to end fuel subsidy.
Keyamo expressed happiness that all the leading presidential candidates had agreed that fuel subsidy should be removed.
He, however, said only reason subsidy has not been removed is because of the NLC’s resistance and the fact that they may shut down the country.
He said, “When we raised the issue of Nigeria Labour Congress’ silence after Obi announced he will remove subsidy, I expected the press to take it from there. But everybody was silent. That got me worried because, being a labour minister, I know the issues involved.
“I know that the only reason subsidy has not been removed today is because of the NLC’s resistance and the fact that they may shut down the country. Despite seeing the benefits of removing it, these people continue to oppose it. Then all of a sudden, I saw on tv that their candidate (Obi) was endorsing its removal.”
Keyamo expressed optimism that the APC Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, can sustain the N174 per litre price for fuel or increase it to contain the attendant inflation.
The minister also expressed concerns that Nigeria cannot risk losing N250bn to N300bn monthly as a result of the burden that comes with fuel subsidy.
The APC Campaign Council spokesman, however, asked Nigerians to learn to look at the benefits of the removal of the fuel subsidy.
He said: “It is very simple. When you remove subsidy, you can now have more funding for salary increase to placate labour and more funding for infrastructural development to employ more people.
“What is central to our development is to remove subsidy. There is no doubt about it. We are spending as it is today between N250b to N300b monthly. I place emphasis on monthly.’’
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