NLC knocks IMF, says no to subsidy removal

The Nigeria Labour Congress has berated the International Monetary Fund for asking the Nigerian government to remove subsidy on petrol.
The NLC President, Mr Ayuba Wabba, urged President Muhammdu Buhari to disregard the idea, saying IMF’s policies did not work in any nation.
At a news conference held in Abuja, tagged: “Public Declaration of Nigeria’s Host of the 6th African Meeting of Solidarity with Cuba, Sept. 23 to Sept. 25 and Inauguration of Local Organising Committee (LOC), Wabba said that the continued devaluation of the Nigerian currency had created the impression of the existence of subsidy.
He said that as long as the value of the Naira was left to market forces, the issue of subsidy would continue in the country.
“As President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), I recently led organised labour across the world to a meeting with the IMF and the World Bank.
“I told them point blank that their one-stop recommendation on subsidy removal and other sundry policy recommendations to the third world are not working and will not work.”
He said that there was no country in the world where IMF’s recommendations had worked “or are working.’
‘’I saw that many media houses are trying to amplify that the IMF has recommended that subsidy should be removed.
“In the first instance, is there subsidy? This is a question we have not been able to answer.
“And I want to corroborate with what President Buhari said years back that subsidy is actually corruption and that whoever is subsidising is aiding corruption and we stand by that position.
“In fact, that has remained a consistent position of NLC. We can kill that issue of subsidy if we refine our products for our domestic use and it is not rocket science.
“Very soon, we are going to forward a document to the government on that,’’ he stated.