2 months ago
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The Peoples Democratic Party has labelled the recent fuel price increase by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited as an attack on Nigerians.
The pump price on Tuesday was increased to N855, N918 and higher per litre, with the prices varying across the location, at NNPC stations across the country.
In a statement on Wednesday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, described the APC administration as being indifferent and unresponsive to the struggles of millions of Nigerians who can no longer afford their daily necessities.
Ologunagba stated, “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejects the punishing increase in the pump price of fuel to over N1,000 per litre in various parts of the country describing it as a brutal assault on the sensibility and wellbeing of Nigerians by the insensitive and arrogant All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.
“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 secretive and corrupt administration of the petroleum sector and persistent increase in fuel price under the Tinubu administration without due regard to the wellbeing of the people is akin to pushing Nigerians to the wall and daring them to do their worst.”
He added, “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.
“Today, under the Tinubu-led APC administration over 150 million Nigerians have sunk below the poverty line, businesses are collapsing daily as the Naira now exchange for over N1,600 to a Dollar with over 34% inflation rate and over 40% unemployment rate which are expected to rise further with the latest draconian increase in the price of fuel.”
The PDP argued that the current APC government’s policies offer no hope, as major multinational companies continue to leave due to poorly implemented economic strategies.
Ologunagba criticised the APC-led Federal Government for entrusting Nigerians’ fate to oil racketeers under the guise of a free market, asserting that the Tinubu administration has failed in its core duty to ensure citizens’ welfare and security.
The statement continued, “President Tinubu is the Minister of Petroleum Resources and cannot exonerate his government and officials from the secretive and fraudulent management of the petroleum sector which is fast pushing our nation’s economy to the precipice.
“Moreover, it is inexplicable that the APC administration continues to increase fuel prices despite the scandalous revelation in the public domain that it is secretly paying a whopping N5.4 trillion as fuel subsidy for 2024
“The APC government has now become an enabler of a cabal of corrupt APC rent-seekers who apparently derive pleasure in inflicting pains on Nigerians while hugely benefiting from the proceeds of incessant increase in fuel price to satisfy and fund their luxury appetite and consumption.
“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!”
