The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the federal
government to “immediately” reverse the latest hike in the petrol pump price.
On Tuesday, TheCable observed that the Nigerian National
Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited had increased the price of petrol across its
retail outlets.
The product’s price has also increased in other petrol
stations across the country, ranging from N855 per litre to over N1,000.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, Debo Ologunagba, the PDP
spokesperson, described the development as a “punishing increase” and a “brutal
assault on the sensibility and wellbeing of Nigerians”.
“The thoughtless
increase in fuel price, especially at this time, is a huge recipe for crisis,
as Nigerians cannot bear its worsening effect on the suffocating economic
hardship which they currently face under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led
APC administration,” the statement reads.
Ologunagba said the “persistent increase” in petrol price
“without due regard to the wellbeing of the people is akin to pushing Nigerians
to the wall and daring them to do their worse”.
“The APC administration has consistently shown itself to be
anti-people, unconcerned, and deaf to the agonies of millions of Nigerians who
can no longer afford their daily meals, medications, and basic support for
families due to the catastrophic high cost of living occasioned by the insensitive
and reckless policies of the Tinubu administration,” he said.
The PDP spokesperson claimed that under the Tinubu
administration, 150 million Nigerians have sunk below the poverty line.
He added that businesses are collapsing daily with an over
34 percent inflation rate, noting that there is an over 40 percent unemployment
rate.
“There is practically no hope in sight under the current APC
government policies as major multinational companies continue to exit our
country in droves in the face of ill-conceived and ill-implemented
macro-economic policies,” he said.
“With the hopeless state of affairs of our nation today, our
Party wonders what President Tinubu, during his numerous trips abroad, says to
his foreign counterparts in nations where leaders prioritize the welfare of
their people.
“Nigerians will
recall that the PDP had on several occasions offered constructive advice and
suggestions on the management of the economy, which the APC government, in its
arrogance in failure ignored.
“The PDP calls on President Tinubu to save the country from
further socio-economic dislocation by immediately reversing the latest
provocative increase in fuel price and revisit all life-discounting and
suffocating policies of the APC government.”
He said with “deft, transparent, and innovative management
of resources, economic potential, comparative advantage, and national refining
capacity, petrol should not sell more than N250 per litre in the country”.
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