As Nigerians continue to weigh the pros and cons of deregulation in the aftermath of the six-day strike by organised labour and civil society groups, President Goodluck Jonathan has been commended over the reduction of the pump price of fuel from N141 to N97 while marketers that are yet to comply with the new price regime are enjoined to do so immediately to alleviate the pains of motorists and the suffering masses.

The commendation and appeal  were made in Abuja recently  by a member of the House of Representatives, representing Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency, Hon Maurice Pronen.

Reacting to the development in an interview with The Tide Hon. Pronen said, “The understanding between the President and Labour that brought about the N97 per litre price regime is commended. As  far as I’m concerned, it’s a good concession by the federal government. Because as far as this subsidy issue is concerned, my heart goes with the populace that has to bear the pains but my mind goes along with the government for the subsidy removal”.

Pronen believed that the federal government is not out to inflict pains on the populace, saying that it is in the best interest of the nation to subsidise consumption.

According to him, “Looking at the situation now, it’s imperative to go the way we’re going – N97. Government is magnanimous to bring it down to N97.”

He noted that subsidy removal is a hard decision to make and preceding administrations were afraid to make it. So, President Jonathan should be commended for his courage in making such a decision, because “if we don’t take decision, we’ll be compelled someday to suffer the effect of not taking this decision”.

He appealed to the masses not to do any things untoward to sabotage the efforts of the government at putting lasting smiles on the faces of Nigerians as even the rich are also feeling the pains of deregulation.”Big men suffer it most economically…The measure of your pocket is equivalent to the measure of your expenses; the more that comes into your pocket , the more exit it has”, he said.

The House of Reps’  member, however, sympathised with  those who have no source of income as to cope with the pains of deregulation, and urged labour to ‘start thinking ‘ about them in their struggle for a better society while urging all and sundry to be patient with the Belgore Committee in the course of their assignment on fuel subsidy, at the end of which , “we can fine-tune their outcome”.

Hon. Pronen  further enjoined his constituents to continue to be law-abiding ,”as we’re here in government to give them the best in government, they should be rest assured that it’s only their interest that we’re here to protect, believing that we’ll bring in dividends of democracy”.