President of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN), Bishop Wale Oke, yesterday said removing fuel subsidies will worsen the suffering of the majority of Nigerians who are already impoverished.

The Federal Government had last week proposed that it would remove petrol subsidy in 2022 and give N5000 to 40 million Nigerians to cushion the effect of the withdrawal.

But Oke, in a statement, urged the Federal Government to shelve the proposed policy in order not to worsen the hardship and trigger crisis in the country.

He explained that the implementation of the policy would lead to a hike in the price of fuel and this would have a ripple effect on the prices of goods and services

The PFN president warned that the implementation of such a policy would increase the hardship currently being experienced by the people of the country.

Already, Oke lamented that prices of foodstuffs and other daily needs were increasingly going out of reach of the people, noting that if the proposed subsidy removal was effected, it would exacerbate the hardship of the people of the nation.

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He further said the situation in the country was very bad because of the steady decline in the purchasing power of Nigerians as a result of the continuous fall in the value of the naira.

“Everybody will feel it, particularly the less privileged. The negative effects will surely outweigh the positive. The cost of transportation for humans and goods across the country will skyrocket and other things connected will have a spiral effect on the general living standard of the populace; the suffering will be multi-dimensional. Please let all stakeholders be sensitive to this avoidable path and do the needful.

“By whatever means, let the Federal Government put its heart into ensuring that our refineries are back to life. In addition, to stem the rising cost of living, farmers, and others connected to them should be encouraged. This is what can help our economy,” the statement read.

He said PFN would always support policies that would enhance good governance, but charged the government to this effect to put in place tangible palliative measures that could ameliorate the hardship being experienced.

“Without begging the issue, there should be well-defined palliative measures in place that can cushion the effect of the hardship being experienced by Nigerians, especially the commoners. One is not talking about political palliatives that never last. We have seen enough of such.

“An increase in the price of petroleum from its present N165 to N340 per liter can trigger tension and crises in the country which in turn can paralyze our economy if not handled with utmost care.

“Again, the planned introduction of N5,000 for 40 million poor Nigerians is to create a cesspool of corruption. How do you define the poor? They, mostly, don’t use telephones. They, mostly, don’t have bank accounts. How will the money get to them?” he queried.

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Oke cautioned the Federal Government to be wary of policies that could jeopardies the conduct of the 2023 general elections.

To address the rising cost of food items, Oke advised that farmers and relevant stakeholders should be empowered with relevant tools and funds through loans with little interest.