Fuel subsidy stays in 2013- GEJ

President Goodluck Jonathan last night said Nigerians would continue to enjoy oil subsidy in 2013, dismissing insinuations that the Federal Government had planned to remove it.

Jonathan said in Abuja during the Presidential Media Chat, that the 2013 budget, currently before the National Assembly, contained provisions on subsidy and that if the government wanted to remove it, provision would not have been made for it.

There have been hues and cries over a statement credited to the president, that fuel subsidy could not be sustained, and by implication, could be removed.
Labour and civil society groups had in the past weeks stated their opposition to subsidy removal.


On the lingering fuel scarcity in the country, Jonathan expressed optimism that fuel queues would soon disappear.

He also refuted reports that the Federal Government was holding discussions with Boko Haram, saying that government would never dialogue with a faceless group.
President Jonathan  said he would not do anything to favour either party in the Rivers/Bayelsa land dispute, adding that as president, he did not have the power to do that.
He dismissed the idea of holding a sovereign national conference, saying ongoing constitution review by the National Assembly would address Nigeria’s constitutional challenges.

The present government, according to Jonathan, has tackled political and fertilizer corruption frontally. He said, “now we are addressing petroleum industry corruption.”
Speaking on the flood disaster which ravaged the country recently, the President reassured Nigerians that there would not be a food crisis. Rather, he said, the country would witness bumper food production.

The President also promised to repair the Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway, before the  end of his administration. He said the federal government acknowledged the strategic importance of the Benin-Ore road and other federal roads in the country, which he said were very key to the country. “My administration will fix Benin-Ore Road and ensure steady power supply”, he said.

The renewed commitment is coming at a time when economic and commercial activities on the 343- kilometre highway are daily being threatened by the poor state of the road.
 President Jonathan also  disclosed that his administration would look for the best way of repairing the 112- kilometre Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which according to him, is the busiest arterial road in the country.  He regretted that Nigerians had continued to suffer untold hardship on the axis, as a result of delays in repairing the road by the Bi-Courtney Highway Services, the concessionaire.

He  said the economy was growing and the government was working hard to make the positive growth statistics reflect on the common man.

“When you stabilise the macro economy and stimulate the private  sector, jobs will come. There are already some successes, such as the
You-Win programme, where we are encouraging young entrepreneurs with grants, not loans.”
The President also re-iterated that the governments fight against corruption was real, with the results being obvious in three broad areas.

These are the cleaning up of the electoral system, reduction of corruption in the agriculture sector, especially in fertiliser procurement, and the unprecedented audit and probe of the oil and gas sector.