By Musa Adamu
Speaker of the House of Representives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday said the lawmakers had been betrayed by the federal government with the on-going fuel scarcity in the country.
Welcoming the lawmakers back from the recess, Dogara lamented that unless government could come up with a compelling reason for the current fuel scarcity, the lawmakers felt betrayed after obtaining their support to increase pump price from N87 to N145 with a promise that would end the perennial fuel scarcity in the country.
He vowed that the House would investigate to unravel the reported reintroduction of fuel subsidy after being told that the last upward pump price adjustment would end the regime.
He said: “We embarked on the recess at a period of great hardship faced by our constituents. The unending and shameful story of fuel shortage reached an unbearable level as to make traveling and other economic activities almost impossible.
“We expected that with the legislative cooperation given to the Executive arm, to effect an increase in the fuel price from N87 per litre to N145, and based on their assurances, incidents of fuel scarcity would be a thing of the past. We were also assured that fuel subsidy had come to an end.
“From recent developments on this subject, except the Executive adduces compelling reasons why the reverse is the case, we will be justified in feeling betrayed.
“As a parliament, we must unravel the causes of this scarcity and the alleged re-introduction of fuel subsidy. I charge our relevant Committees to get to the root of these issues through the instrumentality of oversight to enable the House take an informed position on this totally undeserving precarious situation that our already overburdened citizens are subjected to. This has to be done with minimal delay.”
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