As the controversy surrounding the government’s planned removal of subsidy on petroleum continues, a group of concerned Nigerians have called on organized labour to jettison its planned strike over the proposal.

The group said that the government’s move will reverse huge resources back into the country’s coffers.

The 82 member Coalition of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria had at a conference titled: “Fuel subsidy removal” in Nigeria was held on Tuesday in Abuja and Lagos simultaneously identified Nigeria’s major economic challenges as that of the active fuel subsidy regime.

They alleged that Nigeria was the only country in the world that sustained a fuel subsidy regime for the past 20 years. The fuel subsidy regime was a capitalist and elitist policy that services only the top-heavy, hence, successive governments found it difficult to implement their economic policies.

According to them, the country spends N250 billion on fuel subsidy every month leading to national debts as revenue coming into the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account are used to settle the fuel subsidy.

While asking the federal government to end the policy by January 1st, 2022, to save the country N250 billion monthly used to service the portfolio, the CSOs also lamented that subsidy on petroleum has made the country’s economy “to become very fragile given the financial burden orchestrated by the subsidy regime.”

It also noted that since the country is a monolithic economy, revenue earnings must be jealously guarded, even as it should be channelled into road construction, power, education, health and development of its youth.

It further disclosed that “the Federal government and all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry should strictly enforce the provisions of Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), which came into effect after it was signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari.”

Part of the 7-points communique issued by the non-profit groups underscored the need for more sensitization of the public at the Federal government, private and public sectors, on the “need for immediate removal of fuel subsidy in order to save the nation from further financial hemorrhage.

“The federal government of Nigeria should forward the budgetary provision of N5000 grant to citizens to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal to the two arms of the National Assembly for legislative debate before the passage of 2022 budget.

TodayNG