By Dipo Olowookere
The nation’s main opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has kicked against the recent hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol.
It was reported on Friday that Nigerians will now begin to pay N170 per litre for petrol following the increase in the depot price of the product to N155.17 per litre from the initial N147.67 per litre.
Reacting to the increment, the PDP, which ruled the country for 16 years from 1999 to 2015, described the action as wicked, unbearable and unacceptable, emphasising that there was no justification to increase the cost of fuel to anything above N100 per litre let alone N170 per litre, “when there are practical options to maintain affordable price given our production capacity and potentialities.”
The party, in a statement signed by its spokesman, Mr Kola Ologbondiyan, stated that based on this, it has rejected the hike because it was coming at a time the citizens of the country were experiencing an “excruciating economic crunch foisted on Nigerians by the Buhari administration.”
According to the PDP, “this increase in the pump price will worsen the already suffocating economic situation in the country [as it] will also be an additional log tied on the economic neck of Nigerians.”
“It is evident that the continuous increase in the pump price of fuel under opaque and nebulous indices is a product of incompetence and large scale corruption being perpetrated by a few individuals in the Buhari administration, who are bent on fleecing Nigerians and holding our nation to ransom.
“Our party notes that the APC administration has failed to come clean on the parameters being used for the hike in prices vis-a-vis our production, export and accruing revenue.
“Indeed, the APC administration is not being honest with Nigerians regarding the status and volume of oil production, sales and accruing revenue.
“This is in addition to its failure to fix our refineries and end crude oil theft, allegedly to aid APC interests.
This appears to provide answers to why the APC administration has failed to offer any explanation on huge fraud going on in the management of our nation’s oil resources including the alleged stealing over N9.6 trillion ($25 billion) by APC interests, as detailed in the leaked NNPC memo.
“It has also failed to publish details of its sleazy oil subsidy regime, including the involvement of APC interests in the claimed under-recovery for unnamed West African countries, running into trillions of naira, while Nigerians are made to bear the burden of high fuel costs.
“Such humongous fraud in the management of our oil resources is responsible for the high costs and unspeakable hardship being suffered by millions of Nigerians who can barely afford their meals and basic necessities of life,” the statement said.
“Our party urges President Buhari to end the corruption and the stealing of our oil resource under his watch by APC leaders, recover the looted resources and immediately reverse this increase in the price of fuel.
“President Buhari should also take steps to fulfil his promise to revamp our refineries or accept his failures and apologize to Nigerians.
“It is still not yet late for him to get more competent hands to run our oil sector instead of imposing more hardship on Nigerians,” it added.
