President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, has urged the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, and the Trade Union Congress, TUC, to “abort” the planned protests against the Federal Government’s proposed removal of fuel subsidy.
Lawan described the planned nationwide protest as “totally unnecessary”.
He made the appeal on Monday when he met with the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, over the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products by the Federal Government.
Lawan faulted the timing for the planned removal of subsidy on petroleum products.
He stated that in as much as the administration and management of subsidy on petroleum products are flawed, President Muhammadu Buhari-led government believes that sufficient planning must be carried out before its eventual removal.
He said, “The position of everyone in government today is that admittedly, subsidy administration and management are flawed because of so many reasons.
“Admittedly, the burden is huge and massive and there is a need at one point to do away with the subsidy.
“Even though our economy is growing, we still have the challenge of getting things to be better for our people.
“A lot of us in this administration believe that the issue of removal of subsidy should be handled with utmost care, especially that sufficient planning needs to be done.
“It is not about NLC, we are talking about every Nigerian. We are concerned beyond the Nigeria Labour Congress.
“I am taking this opportunity to appeal to the TUC and NLC to shelve this plan to go on strike or demonstration, it is totally unnecessary.
“There is not going to be a removal of subsidy, so there is no need for this. Please, let’s not create unnecessary tension where there should be none.
“I appeal to them using this medium, to please forget about this January 27, 2022, deadline because there is no need for any deadline.”
