From Kemi Yesufu and Fred Itua, Abuja

THE presence of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu at the House of Representatives yesterday brought the All Progressives Congress (APC) and their Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at loggerheads, as the opposition sought to block the minister from the chamber.
Although the House convened the special session for 10am to grill Kachikwu over last week’s increase in the price of petroleum from N86.50 to N145, the minister had to wait till 2.10 pm to commence his presentation as opposition lawmakers resisted the move to usher him in around 12.45pm.
The House Majority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, had moved a motion for the suspension of the House rules to admit the minister. But no sooner had the Speaker asked if Kachikwu should be admitted than the PDP lawmakers shouted: “No! No!” But the Speaker gave it to the “Ayes”, nonetheless.
The PDP lawmakers had stormed the chambers armed with mini Nigerian flags, chanting: “All we’re saying, save Nigeria”, “APC, shame”, a development that stalled proceedings for about 30 minutes.
When order finally returned, Dogara described what happened as the beauty of democracy. “We disagree to agree,” he said.
The minister in his presentation enumerated factors that led to jacking up of fuel price.  According to him, Nigeria loses 800,000 barrels of crude oil daily, as it produces 1.4 million barrels per day, as against its former production level of 2.2 million barrels, noting that over 350,000 jobs in the oil sector were affected by the economic crisis.
He explained that contrary to largely held opinion, government took steps to cushion the effects of the price increase on the populace, preparatory to the official announcement. One of such steps was the refurbishing of three refineries. The minister who gave assurance that Nigeria would stop importing fuel by 2018 noted that the refineries contribute to providing fuel for local consumption.
He said the fall in oil price, accompanied by the slide in crude exploration with a shortfall of 800,000 barrels per day, due to pipeline vandalisation has taken the country’s earnings to an all time low. “Those two factors depleted our foreign exchange capacity,” he stated.
The minister maintained that from January to March, the Federal Government did not pay any subsidy but the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) augmented supply. He, however, said to continue with that policy would grind the economy to a halt.
“If we continued what we were doing, we run the risk of losing close to 400,000 jobs in the downstream sector. Today, I’m sure you are aware that we have lost literally over 350,000 jobs in the downstream sector. Dealing with these issues will enable us go back to economic sanity where jobs don’t get lost. Rather, this jobs will create about 200,000 to 300,000 jobs in the downstream sectors.” he maintained.
Kachikwu who said what government had done was to  liberalise the downstream sector and not a full deregulation, argued that with the stoppage of subsidy payment, the Federal Government would have enough funds to allocate to states and LGAs for payment of salaries.
Meanwhile, the House called on the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to suspend their plans to embark on industrial action tomorrow.
The call followed the passage of a motion sponsored by Ossai Nicholas Ossai for the House to set up an ahhoc committee to meet with the unions, civil society groups and key stakeholders in the oil sector with a view to understand issues raised against government’s approval for an increase of the pump price to N145.
The committee headed by Chief Whip Alhassan Doguwa was given five days to submit its report, which Speaker Dogara  said will be crucial to the formal position of the House.
However, plans by the two leading Labour unions to mobilise its affiliate members, yesterday, elicited fresh reactions from leaders of civil society organizations (CSOs), as well as a former national chairman of Labour Party, Chief Dan Nwuanyanwu.
In separate interviews in Abuja, the civil society leaders disagreed on the planned strike and protests. While Nwuanyanwu vowed to participate, the national chairman of Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), Zik Ibrahim, said Labour leaders could not be trusted to pull the planned mass action through.
Describing the subsidy removal as a trial and error exercise, Nwuanyanwu declared that the Federal Government was incapable of managing the economic affairs of the country.
“They expect marketers to buy dollars for N400-500 and sell the products for N145? That will not happen. This is commonsense. The Ministry of Finance cannot run this economy. I have said it in the past and I will keep saying it. What can you say that the people of Nigeria are benefiting from this government? This is the only thing (subsidy). They do not enjoy good roads, electricity or security. Subsidy is the only thing they enjoy. Both Finance Ministry and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cannot run this economy. Very soon, this economy will collapse on their heads,” he said.
While Nwanyanwu pledged to join in the mass action, Ibrahim said antecedents of Labour unions showed that they could not be trusted to protect the interest of Nigerian workers.
He said CSOs and other affiliate bodies were yet to receive any formal communication about the planned strike and subsequent protests by Labour unions in the country.
But the national coordinator of Advocates for Peoples Rights and Justice, Mr. Victor Giwa, said CSOs in Abuja were already mobilizing ahead of the protests.
He said government offices would be occupied, adding that the protest will start from Berger Junction in Utako, Abuja and terminate at the Eagles Square.