The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi has strongly condemned the recent fuel price hike implemented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL.
Obi who described it as “insensitive and unfortunate”, urged President Bola Tinubu to reverse the decision, citing the devastating impact it will have on Nigeria’s economic survival.
In a post on X, Obi expressed his concerns, stating that the price hike will exacerbate the already difficult economic conditions faced by Nigerians, largely due to the Federal Government’s poor policy choices.
Obi stated that the lack of explanation from NNPCL and the confusion surrounding the roles of regulatory agencies, such as NUPRC and NMDPRA, further compounds the issue.
According to Obi, as the substantive Minister of Petroleum Resources, President Tinubu bears the responsibility for providing a full explanation, offering alternative options, and reversing the price hike.
He emphasized that the President’s role is to ensure the welfare of Nigerians, not to inflict unnecessary hardship.
Obi criticized the timing of the price hike, implemented while President Tinubu is on a working vacation, as a disregard for the people’s welfare.
He called on the President to act in the best interest of Nigerians, who are living under precarious conditions, and to take immediate action to address the situation.
He said:
“As Nigerians continue to groan under extremely difficult economic conditions, largely caused by the Federal Government’s wrong policy choices, the NNPCL has once again raised the price of fuel (PMS) without providing any explanation.
“This is 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.
“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. A New and more compassionate Nigeria is indeed Possible.”
