The House of Representatives was in an uproar Monday following a protest by members of the minority Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the recent increase in the price of petrol.
The protest which stalled proceedings of the special session summoned by the leadership of the chamber to address the sundry issues bordering on the recent removal of oil subsidy and the increase in the pump price of petroleum from N86.50 to N145 per litre.
The PDP lawmakers stopped the proceedings at the chamber as they in unison chanted protest songs calling on the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to reverse the decision on the fuel pump price increase and proffer palliatives to cushion the effect on Nigerians.
Trouble started when Speaker Dogara, at the beginning of the session called on the Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, to move a motion to admit the Minister of State for petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu into the hallowed chamber.
The motion which was seconded by the Deputy majority leader, Buba Jubril was ostensibly to brief the members of parliament on the reason for government’s decision last week to remove fuel subsidy and pump price increase from N86.50 to N145.
However, the motion was greeted by shouts of “nay, nay, nay” by members of PDP when the speaker sought the opinion of the whole House on whether the chamber should admit the Petroleum Minister to brief the parliament on the matter or not.
Several attempts by the Deputy Speaker, Sulaimon Yussuff Lason, to sue for peace on the floor ignited further shouting bouts by the protesting PDP members who were seen waving the Nigerian national flag.
In the heat of the melee, the deputy speaker along with the majority leader as well as the minority leader and the chief whip proceeded to confer with the speaker at the dais.
Several other All Progressives Congress (APC) members including the Spokesman of the House Abdulrazak Namdas and his deputy, Jonathan Gaza, were also sighted frantically conferring with Dogara at the dais.
It was at the end of this drama that the minority leader moved a motion seeking an executive session of the House, a development which saw the chamber going into a closed-door session.
At the resumed session, the House yielded the floor to Kachukwu who fielded questions on the rationale for the subsidy removal and the increase from N86.50 to N145 per litre of petrol.
He explained that the sale of petrol at the price range would help to get all the nation’s refineries working by 2018, and the nation to begin exportation of refined petroleum products by 2019.
Kachikwu boasted that the new price regime has gone into effect, and that “the market has stabilised in matter of days, in terms of product availability, the queues have virtually disappeared, it is expected that smuggling and diversion will diminish substantially.”
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