A human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, spoke out against the Federal Government’s plan to eliminate subsidies in June 2023 amid the continuing fuel shortage in numerous significant cities across the nation on Friday.
Falana bemoaned Nigeria’s inability to meet its oil production quota of 1.8 million barrels per day because of crude oil theft and pipeline vandals in a live appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily.
He argued that it is unreasonable for the government to stop providing fuel subsidies due to smugglers and claimed that this move would “create more poverty” in the nation.
“I can never (support total subsidy removal). You know why? I am saying Section 14 of the constitution – it’s not my own making – provides that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of the government.
“So, the government has to take care of the welfare of the people and ensure that in providing subsidy for the needy, you do not enrich criminals as it is going on now.
“And that is why you have a government in place, to deal with those who are committing crimes – economic crimes and other types of crimes. And that is what is going on in our country,” he said.
Falana said he remained “totally against subsidy removal,” adding that there was no basis for it.
He argued that there was no country in the world that did not subsidise the poor.
He cited subsidy allocations in the US, which he described as the “hotbed of capitalism,”, especially at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The senior lawyer also brought up allegations of corruption by well-known criminals both at the site of oil extraction and during importation of the finished product.
“The duty of the government is to combat theft from the root. And we are telling the government, just like they are doing now, they’ve gone to hire a private organisation and the revelations are simply amazing,” he said.
Falana stated that the National Assembly had failed in its oversight duties over the gasoline subsidy debate despite the members routinely undertaking what he called “all manner of investigations on fuel supply and fuel subsidy, among other things.”
“At the end of the day, when the budget is presented, details are not given,” he stated. “You are simply told, ‘This is a supplementary budget increasing fuel subsidy from N443 billion to N4 trillion (for instance).’
“What are the details? Daily, how much fuel do we consume? The Comptroller General of Customs has said, ‘Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) is lying by saying it is 68 million (litres per day we consume).’
“At a stage, NNPC said it was 102 million litres per day, whereas the Department of Petroleum Resources said it was 32.8 million litres. Which of these figures are we dealing with?”