‘Nigerians have suffered enough’ — ACC asks FG to reverse petrol price hike

The Allied Conservative Congress (ACC), a political party seeking registration with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has condemned the hike in the price of petrol.

On September 3, the National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited increased the pump price of petrol to N855 across its retail outlets in the country.

Independent and major marketers of the products have also adjusted their prices, ranging from N855 to over N1,000.

In a statement issued on Friday, Olusegun Peters, the ACC’s national chairman, said the increase in petrol price is “outrageous, insensitive, and ill-conceived”.

Peters said it is curious that the federal government would contemplate a petrol price hike shortly after the #EndBadGovernance protest.

“Governments at all levels are obliged to deliver fruits and dividends of democracy, not hardship, hunger, and carnage,” the statement reads.

“Nigerians voted for a fair deal and a better life, not deprivation, destitution, and poverty. Government exists to articulate and implement people-oriented policies, programmes and projects that will boost citizens’ standards of living, not to impoverish and frustrate them.

“Nigerians are resilient, resourceful, and industrious; they should be encouraged, motivated, and provided with an enabling environment to maximise their potentials and contribute to nation-building.”

He asked the government to “immediately” reverse the price of petrol from N880 and above to N617.

“The Federal government had assured Nigerians of lower fuel prices when the last increase was imposed on them, stating that more supplies of petroleum products would bring down the prices,” he said.

“Today, the reverse is the case due to a lack of political will to sanitise the oil sector of corruption and incompetence.

“Nigerians have suffered enough; there is no need to impose more hardship on them for any reason or for no reason whatsoever.

“ACC urges the Federal Government to approve licences to qualified Nigerians to build private refineries and remove all the bottlenecks in so doing.

“It is time to end hardship in the country through conservative governance. Nigerians desire and deserve compassionate leaders with the milk of human kindness.”