*It’s brutal assault on Nigerians, says PDP
By Ada Okafor
The leadership of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) on Tuesday said that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ticked the nation’s Organised Labour and betrayed the entire Nigerians with the fresh hike in the pump price of Petrol and its scarcity across the country.
The NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, while reacting to the on-going confusion regarding price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) popularly known as petrol, described the situation as “traumatic and nightmarish.”
Ajaero noted that Tinubu had told both the NLC and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) leadership during the negotiation of minimum wage to pick between N250,000 and increase in price of fuel or accept N70,000 and allow the price of fuel remain the same.
The NLC President further lampooned the government for the hike, stating that instead of ensuring the promised reversal, the rate has since been jacked up further, adding that it is already putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy.
According to Ajaero: “We recall vividly when Mr President gave us the devil’s alternatives to choose from: either N250,000 as minimum wage (subject to the rise of the pump price between N1,500 and N2,000) and N70,000 (at old pms rates). We opted for the latter because we could not bring ourselves to accept further punishment on Nigerians.
“But here we are, barely one month after and with government yet to commence payment of the new national minimum wage, confronted by a reality we cannot explain. It is both traumatic and nightmarish.
“Yet, when we told government that it’s approach to resolving the fuel subsidy contradictions was patently faulty and would not last, it’s front row cheer leaders sneered at us, saying we did not understand basic economics.
“But if truth be told, this act of betrayal is consistent with the character of this government. We recall the assurances we were given by the leadership of the National Assembly on the 250% tariff hike, that it had been dealt with and there was no need to openly engage the Minister of Power who was at that meeting.
“Instead of the promised reversal, the rate has since been jerked up further putting more Nigerians and businesses in jeopardy. The combined effects of government’s ferocious right -wing market policies brought Nigerians and Nigeria to their all-time low and led to the End-Hunger/End Bad Governance protests.”
*It’s brutal assault on Nigerians, says PDP
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the increase in the pump price of fuel to over N1,000 per litre across the country, saying that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has launched a brutal assault on the sensibility of Nigerians.
PDP said the increase, 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.”
PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said in a statement in Abuja on Wednesday that 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 worse.
“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.”
The party said under the present administration, “over 150 million Nigerians have sunk below 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.
“There is practically no hope in sight under the current APC government policies as major multi-national companies continue to exit our country in droves in the face of ill-conceived and ill-implemented macro-economic policies.
“The admission by the APC-led Federal Government that it has handed the fate of Nigerians to oil racketeers in the name of free market economy further validates the position of the PDP that the Tinubu-led administration has abdicated the primary purpose of government; which is to provide for the welfare and security of the citizens.
“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.”
The PDP ststed: “APC 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!”
The party restates however that “with a deft, transparent and innovative management of resources, economic potentials, comparative advantage and national refining capacity, petrol should not sell more than N250 per liter in Nigeria.
“The PDP calls on President Tinubu to save the country from further socio-economic dislocation by immediately reversing the latest provocative increase in fuel price and revisit all life-discounting and suffocating policies of the APC government.”
