The presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 general election, Mr Peter Obi has criticized the recent hike in the price of petrol products, saying that the development shows that Presdent Bola Tinubu-led administration is insensitive to the plight of Nigeroans
Obi stated this in a statement titled “Reversing the Sudden Fuel Price Increase”, on his X.com account, on Saturday.
The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) had on Wednesday, increased the retail price of petrol to N998 per litre in Lagos and N1,030 per litre across multiple NNPCL stations in Abuja.
Incidentally, the new price, the second increase in one month, represents a 14.8 per cent or N133 rise.
Faulting the fuel increase, Obi said the action has far-reaching negative consequences for the current Nigerian economic survival and well-being of Nigerians.
He added that the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri and President Bola Tinubu had the power to reverse the arbitrary increase of petrol and reduce hardship in the country.
The statement reads in part, “As Nigerians continue to groan under extremely difficult economic conditions, largely caused by the Federal Government’s wrong policy choices, the NNPCL has once again raised the price of fuel without providing any explanation. This is both unfortunate and insensitive, considering the wide-ranging negative consequences for our economic survival and well-being.
“This is neither how an economy’s resources should be managed nor how a nation should be governed. In this new measure, there is neither sound economics nor necessary compassion. We are told that the NNPCL is now a limited liability company, regulated by agencies such as the NUPRC and NMDPRA, yet there seems to be growing confusion about the roles and responsibilities of the NNPCL and these regulating bodies.
“Interestingly, both the NNPCL and the regulatory agencies are supposed to be under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria serving as the substantive Minister. Who, in this arrangement, is regulating who? With the unprecedented but avoidable hardship that Nigerians are enduring, the responsibility for providing a full explanation, offering alternative options, and most importantly, reversing the sudden price hike falls squarely on the Honorable Minister of Petroleum Resources/President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Obi also urged President Tinubu to do the needful and remove the burden on ordinary Nigerians when he returns to Nigeria from his working vacation abroad.
He said, “We hope and pray that he acts in the best interest of the majority of Nigerians, who are living under unnecessarily precarious conditions, and that he does so before his return from his working vacation. To casually inflict such a draconian measure on the populace from the comfort of an annual vacation amounts to taking the people’s welfare lightly and for granted. A new and more compassionate Nigeria is indeed possible.”
