The 2023 presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi says President Bola Tinubu has no compassion for Nigerians with his government’s recent hike of price of petrol in the country.
The former governor of Anambra State made the remark In a post he shared on his X handle on Saturday, describing the hike as draconian considering the hardship many Nigerians are going through at the moment.
After the government-controlled oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited jerked up the price from barely N900 to N1,050 per litre the Federal Government denied involvement, blaming the total deregulation of the sector for the hike.
Not a few Nigerians insist that the Tinubu-led administration is insensitive to the plight of many Nigerians following the latest hike.
The price of Petrol also known Premium Motor Spirit, has been hiked twice within a month by the government, with no end in sight to the frequent increase by the administration, according to analysts in the energy sector.
Reacting, Obi said the hike is a pointer that the All Progressive Congress government does not have a clear economic direction for the nation’s oil and gas sector, adding that the role played by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in the now deregulated sector has been somehow controversial.
He said the nation’s oil and gas sector appears rudderless with Tinubu as the Minister of Petroleum Resources, urging the president to as a matter of urgency reverse the price hike.
Obi said, “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.
“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.”
Before he became president last year, petrol was sold for barely N300 per litre.
The product has witnessed an unprecedented increase during his tenure as it’s now sold for N1, 200 per litre or more.
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