THE Federal Government will face tough times pushing through its planned removal of fuel subsidy as from next year, if the stance of labour, employers and some stakeholders is anything to go by.
Umbrella body of employers in the country, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA) yesterday dissociated its members from the private sector’s reported endorsement of the government’s plan, saying those that met with government and issued a statement endorsing subsidy removal acted on their own and on behalf of their individual companies.
This came as Newsmen gathered that three of the 45 individuals that met with Presidency at a retreat held on October 14, 2011, at the Presidential Villa, declined to sign the contentious communiqué endorsing fuel subsidy removal.
Meanwhile, a host of workers’ groups including Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) backed the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC’s) position and threatened total showdown if fuel subsidy was removed.
Only oil marketers endorsed the government’s plan as well as the Nigerian Institute of Management (NIM), which canvassed phased removal of fuel subsidy, to ameliorate expected adverse effects on the citizenry.
The 42 ‘wisemen’ didn’t have our mandate – NECA
At a briefing yesterday in Lagos, NECA Director-General, Mr. Segun Osinowo, said none of the five (Business Members Organisations ( BMOs), that include NECA, MAN, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture (NACCIMA); Nigerian Association of Small Scale Industrialists (NASSI) and Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (NASME), gave the 42 individuals the mandate to speak on its behalf.
