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The senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District, Adesoji Akanbi, has slammed fellow lawmakers supporting the planned strike by labour movements in the country, over the recent fuel price hike.
Senator Akanbi who spoke to Newspeakonline on Sunday said such senators were supposed to educate Nigerians that there was no provision for fuel subsidy in the 2016 budget.
He however admitted that the masses were going through a lot of pain based on the new price of petrol, inflation, foreign exchange crisis, increase in electricity tariffs, non-payment of salaries among other challenges.
He therefore called on the Federal Government to immediately commence implementation of the various palliative programmes captured in the budget to cushion the effects of the new petrol policy.
He urged the Federal Government to dialogue with the labour leaders and give them reasons to support policy changes that would move the country forward.
He admitted that the timing for the deregulation of petrol pump price was not favourable in the face of current challenges in the land but emphasized the urgent need for the country to make hard decisions by adjusting its economic policies in the face of global economic realities occasioned by fall in oil price in the international market.
According to him, no responsible government would continue with a subsidy regime that consumes a large chunk of the country’s resources. He added that oil marketers have allegedly abused the privilege of getting foreign exchange (forex) through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), putting so much pressure on the naira.
Akanbi said Nigeria should focus on building refineries to refine the quantity consumed locally. Cutting the cost of governance at all tiers and levels of government is also part of the solution, he said.