Rising from the Federal Executive Council Meeting (FEC), presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, Wednesday, Mohammed said the decision by the federal government to hike the pump price of fuel, adding that the policy was not aimed at removing subsidy but to free funds to help the government meet its other financial obligations.
“The current problem is not really about subsidy removal. It is about that Nigeria is broke. Pure and simple!” Mohammed said.
The minister, who briefed State House correspondents after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, called on Nigerians to bear with the government.
“Like somebody who has been earning N100,000 a month and he is faced with a situation where his employer says henceforth you will be earning N10,000 a month.
“He would need to make some very painful decisions and some very painful adjustments. That is the situation with Nigeria today. A few months ago, we were earning as much as $100 for every barrel of crude. In the months of February and March, we were short, we no longer have the resources, the foreign exchange to bring in refined fuel products. And our economy is shrinking.
“We appreciate the fact that the decision is going to affect everybody. We appreciate what we are going through, but Nigerians should also know that the government has the responsibility at times to take very difficult decisions. So, it is not always about popularity,” Mohammed said.
On decision to dialogue with only a select group of labour unions in the country protesting the petrol price hike, Minister of Labour and Employment, Senator Chris Ngige said government was ready to discuss with all groups aggrieved by the new fuel price regime.
“We are trying to bring them under one roof on an issue that concerns all Nigerians. We wanted to speak to the sensitive sectors of the economy. That is why we brought them together.”
Ngige said that government had agreed to meet some of the demands by labour, one of which was the re-constitution of the board of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
He said that a 15-man committee had been set up by government to look into the demands of labour.
Ngige also said that the PPPRA board would be constituted in the next two weeks.
