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Fuel
price hike out of my love for Nigeria -Obasanjo
By
Tony Eluemunor,
Chesa
Chesa (Abuja)
and
Sola Shittu (Ibadan)
President
Olusegun Obasanjo this morning professed undying love for Nigerians and
for the future of the country, an unconditional love which made him
deregulate the oil sector, resulting in the latest hikes in the prices of
fuel products.
In a
dawn broadcast to mark the country�s 44th independence anniversary, he
appealed to fellow citizens to exercise patience with his reform agenda as
it is not intended to make life difficult for them but to �steadily wipe
off the pain from the faces of all Nigerians�.
The
message did not impress opposition parties who took the opportunity to
knock his programmes.
Both
the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA) and the Campaign for Democracy
(CD) on Thursday decried government policies, which they say are a curse
rather than a blessing for the country at the independence
celebration.
On
its part, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) insisted that
this period has again highlighted the fact that Nigeria has for sometime
been on a roller coaster to perdition.
�The
events finally came to the apogee this week with the internationalisation
of the belligerent situation in the creeks of the Niger Delta by the
leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Asari Dokubo,
and the so-called mandate given to Obasanjo by the National Council of
States (NCS) to crush all opposition to his regime�, the CNPP said in a
statement.
Obasanjo,
in the broadcast, did acknowledge the various problems facing the
country.
He
stated:� There has recently been some unease about the full deregulation
of the downstream sector of the oil industry. Government is fully aware
and sensitive to those feelings of unease. We do understand your hopes,
dreams and needs. The decisions taken by government have been taken out of
love and out of concern for our future not out of insensitivity or
sadism�.
A
committee chaired by Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been set up
to evolve measures that would cushion the effects of the fuel price rises
without compromising the goals of the policy, he said.
The
committee is expected to submit its report for inclusion in the 2005
budget scheduled for presentation to the National Assembly before October
15.
The
President blamed alleged non-performance of governors and other elected
officials of the Niger Delta states, despite increased funding, for the
insecurity, �rascality and vandalism which are rapidly becoming the
hallmark� of the region.
The
13 per cent derivation allocation to oil states is to take care of the
peculiar problems of the region but �the obvious assessment so far is that
not much impact has-been made on the lives and living standards of most
ordinary people of the Niger Delta.
�In
the interest of security and stability of the Niger Delta in particular
and of Nigeria in general, I appeal to those elected officials of the
region whose efforts have not measured up to expectations, to endeavour to
be seen to be more alive to their responsibilities and the plight of the
people they are elected to govern�.
Obasanjo,
however, assured Nigerians that his administration would dialogue with
�rascally elements� without compromising the interest of other citizens
and stakeholders.
�We
are talking to those I described as rascally elements from the Niger Delta
in the effort to open lines of dialogue and peace as they feel aggrieved
by their state authorities. I can assure all that a rapprochement is
taking place and that peace, stability and harmony will return to the
Niger Delta. Government is taking appropriate steps to stem the tide of
undue militancy and we are confident that reason will
prevail�.
Obasanjo
reeled out the achievements of his administration in agriculture,
education, electricity supply, communications and information technology,
health, foreign relations and tourism as well as poverty eradication,
industrialisation and institutional reforms.
He
however, urged Nigerians to keep abiding faith in the reform agenda in
order to consolidate the progress made so far.
�My
fellow Nigerians, however you look at it, the truth is that our reform
agenda is working. We have stabilised the polity�, he
declared.
In
their reactions in separate statements, both the APGA and the CD condemned
Obasanjo�s policies, which they said make the interests of multilateral
agencies more paramount to those of Nigerians �who mistakenly elected him
into office�.
APGA�s
statement was signed by its chairman Samson Olalere. It said the spate of
assassinations, threats of secession, guerilla struggle, ethnic cleansing,
campus banditry, appears to be a subtle revolt against the state of
Nigeria as presently constituted.
�We
need to reinvent federalism, we need to purge all our democratic
institutions, we need cultural surgery through value orientation, we need
to create new approaches towards achieving progressive intelligence
management system that is pro-people for development in a true democracy�,
said Olalere.
In
his view, to keep Nigeria one should be a collective decision and to keep
democracy going, the nation needs more democracy and the rule of law
devoid of poisonous emission from the current judicial and electoral
system.
He
urged the President to shed his �pseudo-messianic toga� and review his
harsh economic policies in such a way that the people will not be
suffocated under the yoke of a mismanaged democracy.
�We
strongly believe that no nation can develop with her financial security
system handed over to the �icy hands� of the imperial agents now rampaging
our economic resources. It is unreasonable to think that the current
cosmetic reforms being carried out in the country with imperial overdose
will lead to Canaan land but rather a sojourn in Babylon�.
CD
President Moshood Erubami was particularly angered by the recent increases
in the prices of fuel products, which he described as �another satanic
October 1st independence gift�.
He
said the decision is most insensitive to the groaning of Nigerians and a
clear message that the interests of multilateral agencies are more
paramount to Obasanjo than those of Nigerians.
�We
implore President Obasanjo to recognise the problems, which these
incessant oil price increase could cause before it became emergency. It is
one act of a dictator that may foreclose the orders he could take, a
stitch in time, they say, saves nine�, he stated.
Erubami
demanded a national conference of elders in Afenifere, Ohaneze
Ndigbo, Patriots, Arewa, Nigeria United for Democracy (NUD), the CNPP,
church leaders, Muslim clerics and League of Imams to arrange a meeting
with Obasanjo to save Nigeria from further destructive drift.
�His
military style of administration and the unilateral running of Nigeria
government as a personal estate with packs of ministers who are serving as
co-travellers without positive opinion input for fear of losing their
position, have graphically confirmed the earlier fears expressed by the CD
that the pitiable level of poverty in the country is not a determinant of
government policy�.
Erubami
called on Nigerians to work as one to ensure the success of the
sit-at-home strike planned by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and other
civil disobedience directives that might be issued from time to time.
Taking
a similar hard look at government policies, CNPP General Secretary Maxi
Okwu recalled that� we had predicted that the declaration of emergency
rule in Plateau Sate by General Obasanjo on 19th June 2004 was the final
stage of dictatorship in Nigeria� and that if he was allowed to get away
with it he would descend with an iron fist on the hapless people of
Nigeria.
His
words :�Since then true to our prediction, the SSS (State Security
Service) has been unleashed with great ferocity on the media and some
opposition figures. The Insider magazine is still under siege four weeks
after the SSS broke into its premises and laid the place waste. Mr. Umunna
of Africa Today, whose wife and child were held hostage to secure his
capture, is still in detention. The SSS face-off with the Presidential
candidate of APGA, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, is still
ongoing.
�General
Obasanjo using proxies like the pliant Senate of the National Assembly and
the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court Roseline Ukeje has finally
castrated the NLC.
�It
should be clear to all that the purported mandate to General Obasanjo by
the National Council of States is a ruse and a mere smokescreen to enable
him have cover to finally mop up any remaining dissenting voices or
opposition. By the provisions of Section 153 Third Schedule Part 1(B) of
the Constitution � the Council of States is a mere advisory
body.
�General
Obasanjo can afford to send a private jet to collect Dokubo and negotiate
with him because the economy of neo-colonialist USA (United States of
America) would be adversely affected if the NDPVF makes good its threat to
shut down Nigerian oil wells. Contrast this with the shoddy treatment to
Ojukwu who was sent a one way plane ticket to hell.
�With
the last round of fuel pump prices, Nigerians have finally had it. It is
therefore in the best interest of all patriots, groups associations and
political parties to rise from lethargy and complacency and take a last
stand by fully supporting the NLC/CSO mass action starting on 11th October
2004.
�(Today)
is the44th anniversary of our independence, unfortunately the ordinary
Nigerian does not have anything worth celebrating with the future looking
very bleak�. However, Presidential Adviser on Legal and Constitutional
Matters Ojo Maduekwe on Thursday drew sustained applause as he challenged
Nigeria to �go from the brink of failed states and reach for real
greatness� during his independence anniversary lecture in
Abuja.
He
identified the need to re-examine the economic reform initiatives and
prescriptions, globally known as the �Washington Congress� and engineer a
model suitable for the Nigeria �where neither the state nor the market is
strong enough�.
And
he called for �a more conceptually relevant position that takes into
cognisance the cultures of both our state and our market. This must be a
state of political economy over economics, starved of
politics.�
The
country should be a state under the rule of law to avoid a �no-man�s land
that celebrates arbitrariness and brute force.�
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