TFederal government has proposed a five per cent user charge tax on petroleum products as a means of sourcing funds for sustained road maintenance activities in the country.
The new tax policy came just as government assured members of the organised labour that it would do nothing to tamper with the current petrol price structure till June in line with the agreement signed by both parties last year.
The Managing Director of the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA), Mr. Olubumi Peters, who revealed government�s intention to adopt the five per cent road maintenance tax at a meeting with commercial banks in Abuja, said the new tax policy is part of the proposed amendment to the Act establishing FERMA which is about to be submitted to the National Assembly.
He said government hoped to realise about N53bn per annum from the tax initiative, out of which 40 per cent would be utilised by FERMA to fund the maintenance of federal roads while the remaining 60 per cent would go to state agencies responsible for road maintenance to take care of state roads.
Peters explained that under the new proposal, a five per cent charge is to be built into every litre of fuel purchased at petrol station by motorists, which will later be deducted and disbursed to the appropriate agencies to ensure all-round maintenance of the nation�s roads.
The FERMA MD, while decrying the difficulties encountered by the agency in striving �to keep our roads in good shape�, described the proposed initiative as the most viable means of ensuring that the country�s road network is kept in good shape.
However, at yesterday�s meeting with the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the Federal Government restated its commitment to ensuring that there is no increase in fuel price before June this year.
The meeting, which was chaired by the Minister of Energy, Odein Ajumogobia, held at the instance of government was to kick-start the process of dialogue to prevent the crisis that is usually associated with fuel increases.
At the end of the one-hour meeting, both government and representatives of labour agreed that the current fuel price regime should continue till June and that an all-embracing stakeholders� parley should be convened in March to discuss on the way forward.
Speaking on the subject of the meeting, the Minister said the intention was to prepare grounds for a larger broad-based stakeholders meeting that would discuss and try to find a lasting solution to achieving a sustainable supply of petroleum products in the country.
He said it is a preliminary meeting to determine the timing and composition of the broad-based stakeholders� meeting on petroleum pricing and to determine who should attend that meeting.
According to Ajumogobia, the issue of petroleum price and deregulation had occupied the minds of Nigerians for a long time, and �time has come to do something concrete to bring about a lasting solution to the matter�.
�It is time for us to put this to bed once and for all and not have this continuous conflict which does not serve anybody�s interest. Government would like some sort of sustainability and stability in this sector. It is good for business, good for commerce, it is good for everybody, for us to be able to plan. But you cannot plan if you if you do not know what a very important index for the economy will be in the future,� he said.
The President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr. Peter Esele, who spoke to THISDAY shortly after the meeting, said government had given a firm assurance that it would keep its own side of the bargain not to increase price of fuel till June.
�Government gave a firm assurance that it would not increase fuel price. The meeting further agreed to organise stakeholders conference in March to decide on what happens after June, whether the fuel price will remain at current price or not as well as other possible measures to be undertaken in order to contain the volatility of petroleum price,� he said.
Esele said Labour had canvassed the sustenance of the present price level even after June because �we believe that there is enough ground to maintain the current price structure for the rest of the year�.
�We want to persuade government to reason with us and allow the existing price structure to continue beyond June,� he said.
Jan92008