PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan has debunked insinuation that his administration has abandoned the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment (SURE) programme which contains strategies for palliatives to cushion the harsh effects of full deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry.
Following the president's address at the recent 58th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), a national daily had reported that the administration had abandoned the programme.
In a statement issued by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Dr Reuben Abati, in Abuja on Monday, the president observed that the insinuation had become the pattern by some political pundits whose definition of opposition was to undermine any good policy initiative of the Federal Government.
According to the statement, there has been a deliberate misrepresentation of the comments by the president at the NEC meeting on the issue of reviewing the SURE programme, "hence, it has been alleged that the Federal Government has abandoned or is attempting to 'truncate' theSubsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment (SURE) programme."
It added that, "at no time did President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan say that the Federal Government had abandoned the SURE programme.
"What he said in his opening remarks at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting last week, was that the full implementation of government’s palliatives to cushion the negative effects of the fuel subsidy removal as contained in the original SURE programme, was no longer feasible and will be reviewed in view of the partial rather than full removal of the subsidy on petrol.
"The SURE Programme was predicated on a policy of full deregulation as stated in the SURE document released to the general public. However, due to widely publicised events after the commencement of full deregulation, the government, after a series of negotiations with organised labour, reduced the pump price of petrol.
"It therefore follows that the funds that were expected to accrue from full deregulation will no longer accrue since the policy of full deregulation was stepped down for the time being.
"This new reality informed the President’s directive that the original SURE programme documents already circulated to the public, be withdrawn in order not to give the public false expectations.
"The SURE programme has not been cancelled. What President Goodluck Jonathan said at the 58th National Executive Committee meeting of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is as follows: 'we developed this with the expectation that we were going to completely deregulate the downstream sector of the oil industry, (after) the 100 per cent removal of subsidy.'
"....'We couldn’t achieve that though there was an increase in the price. I don’t want this to be distributed; it will give a wrong impression.'”
The statement explained that these comments only showed that Jonathan was being transparent with the public rather than offer them unrealistic expectations.
While stressing that "sincerity of purpose is a virtue and should be encouraged," the statement pointed out to "those who are still in doubt," the Dr. Christopher Kolade Committee charged with implementing the SURE programme, was still at work and has not been disbanded while a new SURE document containing the reviewed palliatives would soon be released to the public.
It appealed to labour unions and other opinion moulders in the society to desist from misinforming the public about government’s well-meaning programmes geared towards addressing the critical needs of the citizenry.
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