The House of Representatives yesterday passed a resolution calling on the “executive arm of government and all related agencies to revert to the old prices of all refined products,” and the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), to suspend its strike scheduled for next Monday.
In a five-point resolution which came through a motion moved by leader of the House, Abdul Ningi, the lower chamber also set up an ad-hoc committee to exhau-stively deliberate on the recurrent fuel crises and proffer solutions.
The House further decided to summon officials of the Nigerian National Petro-leum Corporation (NNPC), Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR), Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) and the NLC to face the ad hoc committee today.
Moving the motion which he co-sponsored with 16 others, Ningi said the recent increase in the prices of pet-roleum products has brought more hardships on Nigerians whom the lawmakers represent and that the legislators must wade in on behalf of their constituencies.
The price increase and its attendant effects, the leader said, have “grave implic-ations” on peace and stab-ility in the country when looked at together with the looming workers protest.
He wondered why Nigerians would continually be subjected to fuel-related sufferings when the country ranks as the sixth largest exporter of crude oil in the world, explaining that the “per capita income of most Nigerians is so low that they have been denied the economic power to purchase refi-ned products at international prices.”
After the motion was seconded by minority leader, Dr Ahmed Salik, Ningi led the debate on the motion, argu-ing further that the nation has witnessed too many fuel price hikes and too many strikes that do not improve the lives of Nigerians.
He posed rhetorical questions to both the government and the NLC on who gave them the mandate to increase prices of fuel and to embark on strike.
“This House has a moral responsibility to protect the people… No organised lab-our has the mandate to fight for the interest of the gene-rality of Nigerians. The only body that has this power is the legislature,” he said.
In their contributions, Salik, Mao Ohuabunwa, Muhammad Kumalia, Sani Sha’aban and Peter Igbodor, also urged the House to step in on behalf of the common man.
When the motion was put to vote, only a few voices kicked against it. Thus, the House resolved against the fuel price hike and the pro-posed strike.
But some lawmakers have opted not to participate in the debate, suggesting that it was merely meant to scratch the surface.
A member of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) from Borno State, Dr Haruna Yerima, who also boycotted the session, criticised his colleagues for participating in what he said was a stage-managed exercise that would not change anything.
Yerima, who spoke to Daily Trust shortly after the passage of the resolution, said the decision of the House will be “of no consequence because it will have no effect and is meant to fool Nigerians, deceive them and pretend that the House is with the people.
“The whole thing is hypocritical. Therefore, I condemn the resolution and urge all Nigerians to do same. I also urge the labour and the civil society to disregard the call by the House and go on with the planned protest. Because Obasanjo will not listen to the House and the House cannot do anything.”
If the House were serious, Yerima said, it would have gone ahead with the shelved plan to amend the PPPRA Act so that consent of the legislature must first be sought prior to any fuel price hike.
He chided the leadership of the House for ineptitude and an unholy alliance with the executive, urging there-fore for the removal of the helmsmen of the lower cha-mber as well as a re-orientation of the lawmakers.
“The leadership of this House must be removed. There has to be a change of leadership, if not, then we are not going anywhere,” Yerima said.
Meanwhile, the Usman Bugaje-led Forum for Democracy and Good Governance (FDGG), has bemoaned the inability of the nation’s refineries to function, which the forum said was part of the causes of fuel crises in the country.
A statement signed by Bala Ngilari and Indepen-dence Ogunewe on behalf of the forum, said the group was appalled by the skyrocketing inflation and other problems resulting from the fuel price hike and urged government to reverse the prices.
It also called on government to open doors for dial-ogue with labour and the civil society groups to avert dan-gers associated with the impending mass protests.
At a press briefing after yesterday’s sitting, the leadership of the House said it summoned the leadership of the NNPC, DPR, PPPRA, PPMC, NLC and representatives of civil society orga-nisations to find both a short and long term solution to frequent fuel price increases.
The chairman of the committee on media and public affairs, Hon Abike Dabiri, who relayed the position of the House while briefing National Assembly correspondents yesterday, said the House this time around, has the political will to address the fuel price hike because the hike is having adverse effects on all Nigerians.
While urging Nigerians not to be pessimistic on the resolve of the House, Hon Abike expressed belief that the executive arm of gove-rnment should be able to mu-ster the political will to implement the outcome of its interventionist role in the meeting with the stakeholders today.
She said though the House was not against the policy of deregulation of the downstream sector of the oil industry, it however finds the implementation faulty because it portrays the govern-ment as not being sensitive to the plight of the people.
Meanwhile, the Senate yesterday summoned a meeting of stakeholders in the oil industry and the leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) to address the issue of the frequent hike in the prices of petroleum products and NLC’s plan to go on strike next week.
Before the meeting, Senator Kanti Bello (Katsina North/ANPP), moved a motion on the floor of the Senate requesting the Senate to intervene and take a strong position on the frequent hike in fuel pump prices following which the Senate mandated its committees on labour and that of petroleum resources to meet with all stakeholders and report to the Senate today.
In his remarks at the opening of the meeting, the Senate President represented by his deputy, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu, said that the nation cannot afford another strike while noting that something is wrong in the oil sector implementation of the deregulation policy. He particularly lamented that refineries could not be repaired while the 18 licenses issued for the establishment of private refineries are yet to yield any result.
“This problem is going to be unending as long as our refineries are not working. If we have our refineries wor-king we don’t need to import from other countries,” he said.
The deputy senate president attributed problems in the oil sector to the monopoly of those importing fuel which he said breeds corruption, adding that those who enjoy this monopoly will not want to see refineries repaired and called on the NLC to shelve plans to go on strike.
The meeting had in attendance the NLC president, Adams Oshiomhole, permanent secretary, ministry of labour, PPPRA and the NNPC, even though the group managing director of the NNPC, Mr Funsho Kup-olokun, upon receiving a phone call left the venue of the meeting hurriedly.
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