The Coalition of Northern Groups announced on Monday that it would hold protests against the Federal Government’s proposal to end fuel subsidies in 2022.

The group encouraged the federal government to reverse the anti-common man move, which it described as counterproductive and certain to exacerbate the country’s economic decline.

The group’s Coordinator, Alhaji Yakubu Aliyu, issued and signed a statement on Monday, which was made accessible to journalists in Kano.

“The South-South chapter of the Coalition of Northern Groups regards with disdain the Federal Government’s attempt to effect an upward review of the nation’s already pricey fuel,” the statement said.

“Should the Federal Government fail to heed our caveat, the group will not hesitate to join all serious protests that those, who are also bitterly opposed to the pump price increase, may embark on.

“More disturbing is the alleged twin simplistic policy to pay monthly a few millions of Nigerians N5,000 each to cushion the usual attendant harsh effects of the pump price increase, which is far less than what the predictable hyperinflation will engender.

“Against this bleak backdrop, our group hereby encourages the Federal Government to reconsider the anti-common man decision, which is both unhelpful and certain to exacerbate the country’s economic decline.”

In November, Malam Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, stated that subsidies would have been phased off by 2020 if not for certain considerations.

According to him, the law stipulates that the country shall be subsidy-free by the end of February 2022.

Kyari made the announcement at the World Bank’s Nigeria Development Update for November 2021, headlined “Time for Business Unusual.”

“There would be no legal provision for it in our system,” he had added, “but I am confident you will recognize that government has a greater social obligation to cater to the ordinary and so engage in a process that will ensure that we exit in the most delicate and easiest manner.”

Rtn. Victor Ojelabi

Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.