President Bola Tinubu will face his first “acid test” with the withdrawal of subsidies on Premium Motor Spirit, also known as gasoline, according to the ruling All Progressives Congress.
Salihu Lukman, the National Vice Chairman of the APC for the North-West, made this revelation in a statement titled “Nigerian Democracy and the Challenge of Governance” that was released in Abuja.
According to Lukman, the Nigerian people’s response and the Nigeria Labour Congress’ threat to initiate a strike have called into question the President’s and the APC’s commitment to launching fresh efforts “to radically reform, modernize, and move our nation forward.”
Less than a day after the Nigeria Labour Congress postponed its scheduled statewide strike for Wednesday, the APC chieftain reacted.
Lukman said, “More than anything, the issue of fuel subsidy tests the commitment of President Tinubu and the APC in terms of whether new initiatives will be introduced to courageously unite Nigerians ‘to radically reform, modernise and move our nation forward’. It is about whether we want to continue to spend about 30 per cent of our total revenue as a subsidy for the importation of fuel.
“The reality, therefore, is that the challenge of managing the astronomical cost of fuel subsidy payment is the first test of whether President Tinubu’s government will operate based on the commitment to deliver on his campaign promises to Nigerians of initiating reform of the economy so that revenues accruing to the government can ‘support the fiscal obligations demanded by modern democratic governance.’
“Certainly, this will require bold and courageous decisions. But perhaps, more than that, it will require being able to mobilize Nigerians to support the initiative of the government. Mobilizing Nigerians to support the initiatives of the government is a function of engagements and negotiations with the aim of winning agreements that will strategically engage citizens to both support the initiatives of the government as well as discharge complementary responsibilities.
“Everything considered therefore, it will be easier for organized labor to develop a functional relationship with APC and its governments at all levels and seek to defend and promote the interests of Nigerian workers than for NLC and its partners to reclaim the Labour Party and use it to sponsor candidates and win elections.
“Once negotiation is limited to getting organized labor to accept the new policy of withdrawal of fuel subsidy without contracting partnership agreement with organized labor aimed at securing functional relationship to negotiate the roll out of difficult policies, which would be considered necessary to move Nigeria forward, the old distractions of managing strike actions by organized labor would continue.”
