Obi to Tinubu: You have the power, reverse fuel price hike to reduce Nigerians’ hardship

Presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has enjoined President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to reverse the sudden fuel price hike to reduce the hardship faced by Nigerians.

NewsWireNGR reports that the president is currently on a two-week vacation, part of his yearly leave.

While President Tinubu who has now headed for France was in London, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL), raised the pump price of fuel from N897 per litre to N1, 030 in Abuja; from N855 to N998 in Lagos; N1, 070 in North-East; N1,025 in other South-West states; N1,045 in South-East and N1,075 in South-South.

Obi in a press statement posted on his X account on Saturday said; “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.”

He described the development as “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.

“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.”