Fuel Subsidy Removal, Catholic Bishops Raise The Alarm

What would make the body of Catholic Bishops raise the alarm over the issue of fuel subsidy removal in the country?

That is the big question even as the issue continues to attract wide-ranging reactions, mostly on the aftereffects on the masses.

Yesterday, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) took its time to express concern over the fuel subsidy removal, saying doing so without providing cushion for the masses would be counterproductive.

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CBCN president, Most Rev Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, while delivering a homily at the Maria Assumpta Cathedral, Owerri yesterday, warned that if nothing was done to cushion the effects, that the country was headed for the precipice

“The suffering in the land has over the years been galloping uncontrollably. Our growing economic crisis became exacerbated with the recent withdrawal of petrol subsidy by the Federal Government. Indeed, Nigeria is on the brink of collapse”, he said.

According to the Bishop, “Government has not ceased to inundate citizens with its fabled palliative measures to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal. I am sure those running the nation’s affairs at all levels know that palliative measures can never be a cure for any economic or health challenge.

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“If Nigerians are given food items as palliatives, we will definitely go hungry again, after consuming the food. So, I ask: Why waste resources on palliative measures, instead of attacking the problems frontally?

“Provision of a constant source of energy remains the driving force in all developing and developed economies. Why is ours different? Why should we not subsidize fuel?

“We have severally been told that some people have been enriching themselves from our commonwealth through petrol subsidy. For many patriotic citizens, this argument does not hold water”, the Bishop said.

Aside the fuel subsidy removal proper, the Cleric added that: “There is a lot of deceit and corruption in the land. How can anybody explain why and how the former administration hurriedly commissioned the Dangote refinery, which is yet to start production? So, why the haste in commissioning an unfinished project?

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“There is also the fabled story of the supposed Nigerian airline and how an aeroplane was hired or borrowed to flag off its operation. Where is the airline today? Has anyone been asked to account for the act? This is not a good national testimonial”, Most Rev Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji stated