The Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) has called on the Nigerian government to halt any plan to remove fuel subsidy pending when the nation’s four refineries began to produce at maximal capacity.
OPC in a statement on Wednesday by its President, Otunba Afolabi, added that scrapping fuel subsidies without availability of local refined products would further escalate inflation, endanger industries and worsen hardship.
It also called on the government to tame the galloping prices of cooking gas, domestic kerosine and aviation fuel.
“Many households and families are suffering due to the high cost of cooking gas and domestic kerosine. They want the government to alleviate their sufferings by ensuring that the price of gas, for example, returns to N256/kg at most, instead of the current astronomical price of N850/kg,” OPC said.
It noted that diesel price, which has risen from about N190 to N810, is having a negative impact on industries and transportation with attendant higher cost on goods and services.
OPC argued that moderate fuel price would reduce inflation, stabilise the naira, increase purchasing power, and boost the economy.
The group urged the government to invest in local production of fuel instead of importation, revamp the country’s four refineries and encourage abundant establishment of functional modular refineries.
“What is happening today was not what General Muhammadu Buhari promised Nigerians when he was campaigning in 2014. His promise to change the fuel situation by revamping the four refineries was attractive to Nigerians who were dissatisfied with the high cost of imported fuel. Nigerians voted for change. Now the situation is even worse.
“How do you explain that Buhari called fuel subsidy of N306.92 billion a scam in 2015, but under him fuel subsidy rose to N1.43 trillion in 2021 and N4 trillion in 2022?” OPC stated.
OPC also argued that “by running the economy on imported fuel these past seven years, the Buhari government has sacrificed Nigerians to the unchained greediness of an evil cabal that has deliberately paralysed local refining. Clearly, no country will do well under such a system. Time has come to say, ‘Enough is Enough.’
“President Buhari, as the Minister of Petroleum, lacks any excuse to import petroleum products at all. Nigeria is an oil-producing country. Nigerians are blessed with petroleum resources and they deserve to enjoy the benefits of this God-given gift.”
The group recalled that in 2015, petrol was sold for N87 as against N190 now, faulting also the high price of aviation fuel.
The situation has increased the cost of flight tickets and made travelling by air expensive, unattractive and nightmarish.
“It is unreasonable that just a few months back aviation fuel sold for N190 and today it has increased to N880. Yet the government allows the situation to continue, without doing anything to bring this alarming situation under control. This is unacceptable,” OPC added.
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