…Asks FG to explain its claims of subsidy removal
The
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the ‘new’ pump prices of petrol as
announced Tuesday by the Federal Government as a continuation of the All
Progressives Congress (APC) government by deception.
The PDP,
in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Chief Olisa
Metuh on Wednesday said beside its deceptive element, the reduction in the N87 per litre
pump price to N86 and N86.50 per litre for the retail outlets of the NNPC and
retail outlets of private business concerns respectively offered too little to
cheer.
“After heightened expectations occasioned by
the promise to review the N87 per litre pump price of petrol made by the
administration amid crippling scarcity of the product during the Christmas
season, the announcement of this tokenism has come as a disappointing
anti-climax, considering that only in January this year, the PDP Federal Government
reduced the pump price from N97 to N87 per litre.
“That was
done in the wake of the fall in the price of crude oil to between $42.65 and
$50 per barrel. The PDP government then, in reaction to the development
in the global oil market, revised its pricing template that brought down the
pump price by N2.84 more than the N87 fixed as the pump price of petrol.
The implication was that the Federal Government was still subsidising the
N87 price by N2.84 per every litre of the product.
“The
APC-controlled Federal Government, consequent upon stepping in the saddle on
May 29, this year considered the market and decided through a supplementary
appropriation to pay N413 billion as subsidy to petroleum marketers. In
announcing the new pump prices, the APC Federal Government claimed that the
subsidy element has been removed. The question is; how much were we
paying for subsidy when the pump price was N87? Has this marginal
reduction now knocked off completely the huge subsidy paid at N87 per litre or
should it not have only further reduced the size of the subsidy?
“The APC
government therefore must explain what it is trying to hide. The
government could not have earmarked and/or paid a whopping N413billion in
subsidy through its 2015 supplementary appropriation when petrol was
selling at N87 per litre and now tells us that at N86 or N86.50 per litre, no
subsidy will be paid. Is it trying to make the previous government look
dubious or what? This government must explain its suspicious position on the
subsidy issue. Nigerians can no longer put up with ambiguities and
deception.
“Nigerians
must question the sincerity of this government with regards to the removal of
subsidy; Nigerians should ask President Buhari to tell them in clear terms,
at what ceiling of crude oil price was subsidy no longer necessary: at N87 or
this new price regime?
“For the
records, we also wish to remind Nigerians of the insincerity of some members of
the ruling APC on the fuel subsidy claim while in the opposition. For
instance, when oil fell to $66 per barrel in December 2014, the current
Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, who was the governor
of Lagos State then, said: ‘Now we should be enjoying cheap fuel if the price
of oil has dropped globally.
“Even as we
import the product, a major component has reduced in price and while this has
reduced, the pump price of fuel in the country still remains virtually the
same. Then something is wrong. If the price increases in the country when the
price of oil goes up globally, then it should also reduce when the price of oil
drops.’
“Similarly,
when oil fell to $44 per barrel in January 2015, the current Minister of
Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, who was the spokesperson of the then opposition
APC said; ‘When crude oil was selling at $100 per barrel, the landing cost of
PMS without subsidy was N125 per litre. Now that the oil price has crashed to
about $44 per barrel, landing cost without subsidy is about N65 per litre. The
same goes for diesel which should not sell for more than 90 Naira per litre.’
“Lai
Mohammed had said further, ‘Early this year, Zambia slashed the price of petrol
by 23 per cent while Tanzania reduced the pump price of the product by 16%. In
the U.S, which until recently was importing crude oil from Nigeria, the price
of fuel has fallen for 113 consecutive days as of January 16. Therefore, the
10.3% price slash in Nigeria is too meager, too late.’
Nigerians
should now ask them what has changed in their calculations that they could not
significantly reduce the pump price.
As a
party, the PDP insists that never again should Nigerians allow desperate men to
use lies, propaganda and intimidations to win elections and get to power, only
for them to fumble and muddle through governance.
Signed:
Chief Olisa Metuh
National
Publicity Secretary
No comments:
Post a Comment