‘It’s a recipe for crisis’ — PDP demands reversal of petrol price hike

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”.