The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has threatened to shut down the country if the Federal Government implements the planned fuel subsidy removal.
The students’ body also rejected the government’s plan to pay N5,000 transport allowance to 40 million Nigerians to cushion the effect of soaring fuel prices.
Addressing Journalists in Abuja on Friday, NANS President, Comrade Sunday Asefon, said the union would mobilise its 41 million members across the country to protest what it called a “strange proposal.”
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, had announced that the government would remove fuel subsidy and replace it with a monthly N5,000 transport grant to 40 million poor Nigerians.
Asefon however, noted that with the present economic realities, it was wrong for government to contemplate something as critical as deregulating the petroleum sector “without thinking it through, without consultation and without a robust debate.”
He described the move as a plan by government to get money at all costs to squander and finance the ostentatious lifestyles of public officers and senior civil servants, adding that any attempt to aggravate the economic woes of Nigerians would not only be unconscionable but reckless.
He said: “Nigerians are really suffering. We are in dire socioeconomic straits. We are weeping in our hearts and souls. We are dying in silence. We feel the agony and anguish because we are practically involved.
“It will amount to testing the patience of Nigerians too far. And we wish to warn against it. The country is very stretched and tensed. In case the government is not aware, we are passing them this intelligence free of charge now. Again we advise, let the government not stretch it further.
“The consequences will be dire. The people are already flamed. Mendacity will beget mendacity, NANS is happy that the organised labour and civil society groups have all rejected the proposal.
