The group supports Tinubu for the removal of fuel subsidies
A lobby group under the umbrella of 'The Natives' has backed All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu over his proposed plan to scrap the controversial fuel subsidy if elected president.< /p>
In a statement released to reporters in Abuja on Saturday, the National Indigenous Leader, Smart Edwards, however, warned that they would hold Tinubu accountable from the moment he took office until he held his promise.
The APC presidential candidate promised at a business lunch in Lagos on Thursday that his presidency would cut the subsidy even in the face of protests from Nigerian workers.
"How can we subsidize the fuel consumption of Cameroon, Niger, Benin Republic?" No matter how long you protest, we will cut the subsidies,” he said emphatically.
Reacting after an evaluative discussion with his regional commissioners known as G-43, Edwards described the former Lagos governor's resolution as a brave warning to oil cartels.
The group, which has members in all 774 local governments in the country, lamented that Nigeria was losing over N5,000,000,000 to a few cartels in the name of annual subsidies.
The statement read in part: "Take it or leave it, Nigerians need these oil subsidy funds allocated and released to other sectors. Pull it out and stop the bleeding. How can we continue to excuse the consumption of our national treasury in the name of subsidy; billions of naira spent every year to subsidize what exactly?
"The President's Humanitarian Initiative, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retired), has a budget of about 500 billion naira, the Ministry of Youth has about 80 billion naira for the entire youth of the country, and that's why many are not getting the benefit of the government's gestures. Critical sectors of the country are not even benefiting from a trillion dollars in planning, so what do we do?
“Our message to the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, is that if he wins the next election and is ready to be president, we will support him, that is a bold statement he must stand by. and if he is elected, we will hold him accountable for that.
"We are citizens and what we want is development, infrastructure, growth in a safe country, not a group of people who steal our resources in the name of subsidies. The truth is that the subsidy must disappear.
“However, we call on trade unions, civil society organizations and young people to be prepared and to show understanding, because the removal of fuel subsidies is a long overdue policy, the sector is in a cage and must be unbundled. We cannot offer our cooperation to the saboteurs to arbitrarily inflict untold hardship on us as citizens year after year. This evil work of the saboteurs must stop."
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A lobby group under the umbrella of 'The Natives' has backed All Progressives Congress presidential candidate Bola Tinubu over his proposed plan to scrap the controversial fuel subsidy if elected president.< /p>
In a statement released to reporters in Abuja on Saturday, the National Indigenous Leader, Smart Edwards, however, warned that they would hold Tinubu accountable from the moment he took office until he held his promise.
The APC presidential candidate promised at a business lunch in Lagos on Thursday that his presidency would cut the subsidy even in the face of protests from Nigerian workers.
"How can we subsidize the fuel consumption of Cameroon, Niger, Benin Republic?" No matter how long you protest, we will cut the subsidies,” he said emphatically.
Reacting after an evaluative discussion with his regional commissioners known as G-43, Edwards described the former Lagos governor's resolution as a brave warning to oil cartels.
The group, which has members in all 774 local governments in the country, lamented that Nigeria was losing over N5,000,000,000 to a few cartels in the name of annual subsidies.
The statement read in part: "Take it or leave it, Nigerians need these oil subsidy funds allocated and released to other sectors. Pull it out and stop the bleeding. How can we continue to excuse the consumption of our national treasury in the name of subsidy; billions of naira spent every year to subsidize what exactly?
"The President's Humanitarian Initiative, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Retired), has a budget of about 500 billion naira, the Ministry of Youth has about 80 billion naira for the entire youth of the country, and that's why many are not getting the benefit of the government's gestures. Critical sectors of the country are not even benefiting from a trillion dollars in planning, so what do we do?
“Our message to the APC presidential candidate, Tinubu, is that if he wins the next election and is ready to be president, we will support him, that is a bold statement he must stand by. and if he is elected, we will hold him accountable for that.
"We are citizens and what we want is development, infrastructure, growth in a safe country, not a group of people who steal our resources in the name of subsidies. The truth is that the subsidy must disappear.
“However, we call on trade unions, civil society organizations and young people to be prepared and to show understanding, because the removal of fuel subsidies is a long overdue policy, the sector is in a cage and must be unbundled. We cannot offer our cooperation to the saboteurs to arbitrarily inflict untold hardship on us as citizens year after year. This evil work of the saboteurs must stop."
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