The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) has urged the All Progressives Congress-led (APC) federal government not to succumb to the pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to phase out fuel and electricity subsidies completely.
The party said on Tuesday that removing the subsidies would rather compound the woes of Nigerians who are already going through harrowing and trying times as a result of fuel subsidy removal and devaluation of the naira by President Bola Tinubu's government.
The statement, signed by the party's acting national publicity secretary, Muhammed Ishaq, urged the FG to make the welfare of Nigerians its priority.
"As a sovereign state, Nigeria should not dance to the IMF's tunes but take decisions that will benefit the citizenry positively.
"This (IMF's) recommendation, in our view, is insensitive and inconsiderate, particularly at a time when Nigerians are grappling with the worst economic hardship since the Nigerian State came into being as a direct consequence of last year's fuel subsidy removal and massive devaluation of the national currency.
"As a sovereign nation, Nigeria should be able to decide on policies that are guaranteed to promote the overall wellbeing of its citizens without any dictations from neoliberal and neocolonial organisations such as the IMF and World Bank who mostly are out to service the profit motives of multinational corporations and the Western powers at the expense of our long-suffering people.
"The federal government must prioritize the welfare of Nigerians and consider the socio-economic implications of removing these subsidies. The sudden removal of fuel subsidies and massive devaluation of the national currency last year by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration on the day he came to power led to a spike in the cost of living, causing undue hardship for millions of citizens who are already struggling to make ends meet. Phasing out electricity subsidies will only exacerbate this situation further," he said.
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The party said instead of removing these essential subsidies, the government should focus on addressing the root causes of inefficiency in the fuel and power sectors, including tackling massive corruption in the two sectors, promoting transparency and investing in infrastructure to improve the delivery of these services to the citizens.
He said, "We, in the PRP, call on the federal government to stand firm in its responsibility to protect the interests of its citizens. We urge them to explore alternative measures that can address the nation's financial challenges without subjecting Nigerians to further economic suffering.
"We would like to warn the IMF and the legion of its surrogates and parrots on the corridors of power in Nigeria to be aware that the good people of this country are carefully monitoring their nefarious antics and may be forced to respond appropriately should these surrogates, now temporarily in power, go ahead with any of these anti-people policies and programmes.
"We urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to listen to the Nigerian citizens that are already crying, rather than the voices of any or both of the Bretton Woods sisters of the IMF and World Bank whose advice has for decades put the Nigerian masses in hardships," the statement added.
