Mixed reactions have continued to trail the  decision of the Federal  Government  to remove subsidy on fuel.

Some female  lawmakers and government appointees bared their minds, TOLUWANI OLAMITOKE reports.

THE Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala pitching her  tent with  her petroleum resources counterpart  has stressed  that the removal of oil subsidy would strengthen investors’ confidence in the capital market while  assuring  that the  government would use the proceeds from subsidy removal to improve on the infrastructure that would re-direct both local and foreign investors’ confidence in the capital market.she said the petrol subsidy removal was to safeguard the future of Nigeria and her children. According to her,  “if Nigeria did not take the measures, the country would be forced to experience such hardship that would frustrate the future of our children and we will be like some countries such as Greece which kept on borrowing until they got to the crisis situation that they have found themselves.”

Okonjo-Iweala in her  view stressed  that if Nigeria continued to borrow to run government, then crisis was imminent and the best thing was to begin to arrest the situation.

HONOURABLE Abike Dabiri - Erewa  representing  Ikorodu Federal Consituency, Lagos State,  on her part  has  insisted that the removal  of oil subsidy by the president is totally unacceptable. She asked,’’ Why is  Nigeria the only oil producing country importing fuel? Why are our refineries not working  at full capacity? The president should revert to N65.”

DIEZANI  Alison-Madueke,  Minister of Petroleum Resources, on her part has  said that  the  Federal Government is desirious of discontinuing the subsidy on petroleum products because it is a huge financial burden on the government.  According to her, subsidy benefits the wealthy more and hurts the economy and development.

She  explained that, “the total projected subsidy reinvestible fund per annum is N1.134 trillion based on average crude oil price of US90 per barrel. Out of this,N478.49billion,accrues to the Federal Government, N41.03billion to state governments, N203.23billion to local governments, N9.86 billion to the Federal Capital Territory(FCT) and N31.37billion as transfers to derivation and ecology, development of natural resources and stabilization funds.”

She said the discontinuation of subsidy will save additional resources for investment in programmes targeted at mitigating poverty and spurring economic growth. She  implied that   a robust programme structure has been developed to ensure adequate oversight, accountability and implementation of the various projects targeted to reduce the impact of subsidy removal.

Honourable  Hajia Khadija Bukar representing Damaturu/Gujba/Gulan Tarmawa Federal  constituency, Yobe state, during  the House of Representatives emergency plenary voted against President Jnathan’s removal of  oil subsidy. She  explained that the nation  could not bear the full deregulation of downstream sector of the oil industry for now. She  thus asked the Federal Government to revert to N65.  “Before a decision that impacts on the masses as this is taken, the government should have put in place some softlandings. But none of that has been provided. History will judge us if we don’t  consider the poor masses who are  mostly affected by this harsh decision,” she said.

WOMEN Affairs Minister, Hajia Maina has  thrown  her weight behind the subsidy removal, saying it is in the best interest of the country. She has gone futher to appeal to Nigerian women to  support the deregulation policy.  According to her, the decision to remove the subsidy was to enable government put in place critical infrastructure across the country and create jobs for the teeming youths.

The minister had likened the  petrol subsidy to breast cancer, which cannot be allowed to remain in the body but must be removed.

She noted that Nigeria is into a lot of debts as a result of the huge amount the government is paying to subsidise the price of petrol. “If we don’t remove the subsidy now, in the next five years, we won’t be able to sustain this country again. Only about 200 out of the 167 million Nigerians are benefiting from the subsidy, so what’s the essence of retaining it if all of us cannot benefit from it,” she  asked.