The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization, Afenifere on Wednesday asked the federal government to order the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to reverse the announced increment in the fuel pump price
Afenifere in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Comrade Jare Ajayi, noted that this became necessary in view of the fact that Nigerians are currently going through a lot of challenges as a result biting socio-economic crunch and the attendant hardships.
According to Afenifere, the federal government should stick to the claim by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr. Heineken Lokpobiri, that President Bola Tinubu administration did not instruct the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to increase the fuel pump price by ordering the corporation to reverse the announced increment.
“It is therefore a wrong time to come up with any policy that will increase the undesirable challenges Nigerians are going through presently”, it said.
Afenifere added, ” Failure by the NNPCL to reverse the latest increment in fuel price will rub off negatively on some policies of Tinubu administration to ease things for the citizens. Policies such as the Students Loan Scheme and Consumer Credit Scheme that are just taking off”.
” With the latest increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol to N897 per litre, the cost of fuel in Nigeria has risen by 460 per cent in 15 months”.
Afenifere stressed that ” it is curious that an organization that declared a profit running into trillions of Naira could, almost in the same breath, claim that it is indebted to the tune of nearly seven billion US dollars.Why not pay off the debt from the available fund before declaring it as profit?”
Stressing that NNPCL seems to be making Nigerians pay for its inefficiency, Afenifere said “It is a common knowledge that the cost and availability of energy such as petrol, gas, electricity, diesel and kerosine are major factors not only in production and services but also on the quality of well-being that Nigerians can enjoy”.
” Hikes in prices of these energy sources have astronomically increased the costs of services and commodities, reduced the disposal incomes of average Nigerians and heighten their health risk.
” The combination of all these are making a daily living an onerous task for the majority of the citizens. Considering the fact that millions of the Nigerians had been described as being ‘multi-dimensionally poor’, the recent hike in costs of fuel and electricity are uploading the number of people in that category phenomenally”.
