Five days after President Bola Tinubu, in his inaugural speech after being sworn-in, declared that fuel subsidy was ‘gone’, traffic congestions earlier observed around filling stations in the Federal Capital Territory – Abuja, have dissipated. Petrol marketers who had earlier sealed up their facilities have also thrown their gates open to customers, as they now sell between ₦537 and ₦545 per litre of fuel.
This is coming three days after the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited on Wednesday, announced an adjustment in the pump price of petrol by nearly 200 per cent, from ₦195 per litre to between ₦488 and ₦557 nationwide.
Meanwhile, the Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPC Limited, Mr. Mele Kyari, had also said that President Bola Tinubu has directed that palliatives be put in place to cushion the effect of the increase in fuel price on Nigerians.
He said, “I am aware that Mr. President has directed some engagement and some palliative will be put in place and I am very sure this will happen.”
In another development, the House of Representatives, at plenary on Thursday, stated that with the petroleum subsidy removal, the federal government should forthwith suspend all Direct Sales Direct Purchase (DSDP) contracts. The House said NNPC should act according to the provisions of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) in order to ensure that the country was not short-changed in production, lifting, and sale of crude.
The House also said while the federal government should outrightly remove subsidy on all petroleum products, it should immediately design measures and palliatives to cushion the effects of the removal for Nigerians effective from this year, through the provision and procurement of CNG buses as an alternative transport system with cheaper fuel consumption.
According to the lawmakers, the government should also introduce intermodal, regional and national transport system to ease mass movement of people across the country.
In the meantime, the Nigeria Labour Congess (NLC) has declared a nationwide strike from next Wednesday, should the federal government fail to reverse the price of petrol to status quo. This is coming after a meeting between the federal government and the NLC on Wednesday ended in a deadlock.
NLC had called on the federal government to prevail on NNPC to revert to the old pump price, maintaining that provisions were already made for fuel subsidy in the intervening period.
According to NLC president, Joe Ajaero, “It has, therefore, become important that we inform the federal government of the expanding and deepening anger amongst the populace, which is increasingly building a coalition of the suffering and deprived that may lead to a conflagration of unexpected dimensions if nothing is immediately done to assuage this snowballing feeling of angst.
“We advise the government to quickly revert to the old pump price since provision was made to cater for subsidy in the current budget to cover this period.”
Ajero had before the announcement of the intended nationwide strike, said the union was going to investigate all subsidy payments made in the last eight years. “We are going to probe subsidy payments in the last eight years, at least that under the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari because nobody seems to be looking in that direction,” he said.
As at today, residents of the FCT are still groaning over the increase in the price of fuel, which they say is impacting their lives negatively.
A civil servant, Mrs. Joy Riume said that the situation is worsening the plight of Nigerians and called for a review of the development. “There is inflation especially on food items, causing hunger in the country, insecurity is ravaging the land, people are dying like ants everyday. Why has the new government decided to add to all our sufferings, just upon being sworn-in.
“Now, to go to work, I have to spend ₦1,500 instead of the ₦800 I used to spend. At the end of the month, what is my take-home? It can’t even take me home any longer. If this government says it has the interest of the people at heart, let it reduce the price of petrol, increasing it is subjecting the people to advanced suffering,” she said.
A commercial driver, Mr. Sule Abdul said that the hike in the price of petrol is affecting his work badly. He said, “It is true that we are charging double of what we used to charge, but the truth is that we are even at a loss. You know the price of fuel has almost tripled. I would have preferred to buy fuel at the old price and charge my passengers the old fare, because I gain nothing as it stands now. Let the government do something. We the masses are suffering.
Recall that during the campaigns, President Tinubu had insisted that he must remove fuel subsidy, after winning the election. “No matter how long you protest, we are going to remove subsidy. That is the truth… And I’m going to win this election,” Tinubu had said.
Today, he is the president, and he has removed the subsidy. Accordingly, Nigerians have started protesting. Will he reverse himself? Or will he at least, put measures in place to cushion the effect on the people? Nigerians are groaningly watching.
