Gbajabiamila backs new pump price, wants review of minimum wage

Reps want speedy passage of PIB
Ahead of today’s emergency session of
the House of Representatives, its leader,
Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, has expressed
support for the removal of petroleum
subsidy.
Gbajabiamila who participated in the
stakeholders’ meeting where the
decision to hike the price of fuel to
N145 was taken argued that the
government is left with no option but to
take the decision in order to save the
country’s economy from a total
collapse.
He disclosed that the 36 states
government of the federation would
have faced the risk of zero allocation
from the federation account if the
government had continued to sustain
the subsidy regime.
In an article made available to The
Guardian yesterday, he canvassed a
review of the minimum wage as a
means of assuaging the pains faced by
Nigerians as a result of the hike in the
price of fuel.
Gbajabiamila who was at the forefront
of the opposition to the removal of fuel
subsidy enjoined Nigerians to
understand with the president
Muhammadu Buhari led administration
who had been grappling with a reversal
in the fortune of the country’s economy
since he assumed the helm of affairs
last year.
Meanwhile, a member of the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) in the House of
Representatives, Uzoma Nkem-Abonta
has asked the All Progressives Congress
(APC) to tender an unreserved
apologies for “misleading Nigerians.”
The lawmaker spoke at the weekend
following the decision of the
government on subsidy removal said:
“So, what changed between 2012 and
now that will require the recent
astronomical increase in the pump
price of petroleum products to N145 if
not that they have now clearly
exhibited ignorance and lack of
economic reasoning?”
However, Nkem-Abonta who gave
backing to the removal of oil subsidy,
while also advocating a total
deregulation in Nigeria, said the
decision was long overdue in view of
the economic challenges weighing
down the country, adding that, “you
cannot run our economy with subsidy,
it is not progressive.
Nkem-Abonta also urged president
Buhari to begin the process that will
culminate to a complete deregulation of
the oil industry and immediately
facilitate the passage of the Petroleum
Industries Bill (PIB).