Fuel subsidy removal: Catholic Bishops berate FG over hardline posture

AS the Federal Government insists that there is no going back on the fuel subsidy removal, Bishops of the Catholic Conference of Nigeria, on Thursday, described its stand as unpopular, saying it is immoral to impose the subsidy removal on economically weakened Nigerians while political office holders continue to live in embarrassing opulence.
The clergymen from  Ibadan province, which comprise Ibadan, Ondo, Oyo, Ilorin, Ekiti and Osogbo dioceses, said this in a communique signed by Most Reverend Emmanuel Badejo, Bishop of Oyo Diocese  and Most Reverend Felix A. Job, the president of the conference.
While condemning the hard line posture of the Federal Government on the issue, the clergymen said, “we note with deep regret that this country now has a tradition of making the poor suffer for the selfish interests of a few who have fraudulently enriched themselves in collusion with those in the corridors of power. Must the poor suffer to make the rich smile? It may not be fair to blame the Jonathan government alone for all the woes of Nigeria but this government must take full responsibility for the insensitive timing and execution of this policy on fuel subsidy.
“The first duty of government is to guarantee the security of life and property. Therefore, to simply allude to fraudulent practices in the petroleum sector without any serious effort to sanction its perpetrators, and to go on instead to remove subsidy as a way of forestalling fraud is to punish the already vulnerable and victimised Nigerian consumer.
“This action, taken at this most inauspicious period of national grief and emergency is tantamount to what we have referred to in the past as ‘governance by ambush.’” It merely penalises the ordinary Nigerian for the sins of those who practice fraud and for government’s abdication of its fundamental responsibilities.”
“Before removing the subsidy, the Federal Government alluded to huge irregularities and corruption associated with the provision of petroleum products in Nigeria. But it took no action to prosecute anyone as a consequence of its discovery.”
“Federal Government did not allay palpable fears of harsher economic effects on the average Nigerian nor did it take any action to protect or support the poorest and most vulnerable Nigerians. The harsh consequences of the eventual removal of subsidy, as has been seen, have been instantaneous. Many Nigerians who went to their hometowns and villages to celebrate Christmas and the New Year could not even afford the cost of returning to their places of work!”
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