A member of the House of Representatives representing Delta central senatorial district under Labour Party, Barrister Benedict Etanabene, has insisted that the best and only sustainable palliative for Nigerians is the reduction of pump price of fuel to N65 per litre. Etanabene is representing Okpe/Uvwie and Sapele federal constituency in the lower chamber of the national assembly.
For him, none of the palliatives of the federal and state governments will solve the problems of Nigerians but a sharp and drastic reduction in the pump price of fuel will be the only magic wand Nigerians will permanently appreciate.
He is of the view that the rice, money and vehicle and transport reduction will not last and would even be abused and diverted, hence he is insisting that the only palliative that will solve Nigeria’s problem is to reduce the cost of fuel to N65 per litre. This will have positive effect on every Nigerian across board.
Etanabene, who dismissed subsidy, said there nothing like subsidy and that all the proposed palliatives by the federal and state governments will not work, just as he said that the N8000 will also not work and that the best palliative for Nigerians would be to bring down the price of fuel to N65.
“I do not believe that there is anything called subsidy in the petroleum industry in Nigeria. I have held this position since I was branch chairman of PEGASSON. I argued at the national level when the first increase was to take place that if there is petroleum subsidy, let us see it with our two eyes.
“The only way we can determine that is to know how much our consumption of petroleum is. We should know how much we are importing into Nigeria and we will know where they’re going to and know the people they are paying such money to.
“Section 3 of the constitution provides what the duties of government mainly is which is provision of security. So there’s no thing in life government should not subsidize. Government should subsidize food, health care, education, water and petroleum should not be an exception.
“All these palliatives will not work. If we increase workers’ salary, even though I am not against that, how many persons are government workers in Nigeria? Less than five per cent are government workers. What about the vast majority left? I think the best palliative is the one everyone of us will enjoy which means bringing down the price of fuel to N65.”
Source: Vanguard News
