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The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has demanded that President Bola Tinubu should account for the “trillions of naira” accruable from the removal of subsidy on petrol in the last seven months.
The main opposition party, which also condemned the failure of the federal government to pay the December salary of workers despite the money saved from the subsidy removal, argued that the development has confirmed its position that the present administration planned to frustrate and inflict pains on Nigerians.
In a statement issued Saturday by its National Publicity Secretary, Mr. Debo Ologunagba, the PDP also urged President Tinubu to come clean on the December 2023 distributable statutory revenue of N376.306 billion, distributable Value Added Tax (VAT) revenue of N335.656 billion, Electronic Money Transfer Levy Revenue of N11.952 billion and Exchange Difference Revenue of N364.869 billion as contained in the communique issued by FAAC at its December 2023 meeting.
The PDP also demanded the immediate payment of the December salary of workers and additional compensatory payment of at least 50 per cent of the salary of workers to cushion the effects of the economic hardship foisted on them by the APC-led administration.
The party said that President Tinubu should understand that Nigeria is a federation that must only be governed by the constitution and the rule of law and not by the whims and caprices of an individual or group.
The party described the failure of the federal government to discharge such a sensitive obligation to workers, especially during this yuletide period, as unacceptable, stressing that it was an indication of the level of insensitivity of the APC-led administration towards the welfare of Nigerians.
“By this action, Tinubu’s administration has practically turned our nation into a huge Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp with millions of Nigerians becoming beggars and observing the period of hunger, anguish and misery.
“It is obvious that the non-payment of the December salary critically needed by the workers, including our gallant security operatives at this period is consistent with the atrocious character of the APC-led administration to weaponise poverty and further suppress Nigerians to surrender to totalitarianism.
“Is it not provocative that while President Tinubu is busy partying and luxuriating with APC leaders, workers who are putting in their time and energy in the service of the nation are left with nothing to feed and celebrate with their families and loved ones?” the party queried.
“Sadly, President Tinubu would rather approve the frittering of our nation’s scarce resources to sponsor cronies, political minions, hangers-on, and their mistresses to expensive foreign trips while making no provision for the salary of genuine government workers.
“Such a heartless act by the anti-people APC-led administration never happened in the 16 years of the PDP in government as workers then promptly received their December salary before Christmas day (25th) to enable them to celebrate yuletide and end of year festivities with their loved ones.”
More distressing, the PDP said, is that the Presidency could afford to withhold salaries even after approving the unbearable increase in the pump price of petrol to over N700 per litre, with the attendant high cost of food, transportation, medication, and other basic necessities of life.
PDP said it was instructive to remind Nigerians that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) had earlier this month announced that it shared a total of N1.783 trillion to federal, state, and local governments for December 2023, yet workers have not been paid because there was no cash backing by the Tinubu’s administration despite huge resources accruable to it. We ask, where is the money?” PDP queried.
“Our party is appalled by the level of profligacy apparent in the APC administration whose actions and policies are skewed towards the promotion and institutionalisation of corruption, deprivation, and suppression of Nigerians,” he stated.
He urged Nigerians to recall that earlier in August, the PDP alerted that the nation’s economy was asphyxiating and grinding to a halt under the increasingly corrupt APC and President Tinubu’s crippling economic policies with consequential negative toll on productivity.
Chuks Okocha in Abuja
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