The former Governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, Mr. Peter Obi has called for the immediate return of fuel subsidy, contradicting his earlier pledge during the last general elections to also remove fuel subsidy if elected.
Mr. Peter Obi made this call in a post he made on his official X handle on Saturday. In the post titled “Reversing the Sudden Fuel Price Increase”, Mr. Peter Obi described President Tinubu’s fulfillment of his campaign promise to ensure the removal of fuel subsidy as a wrong policy choice.
“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”, Obi said.
Obi said that the fuel price increase is both unfortunate and insensitive, considering the wide-ranging negative consequences for Nigeria’s 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”, Obi continued.
“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”, Mr. Peter Obi stated.
Peter Obi’s apparent call for the return of fuel subsidy contradicts his pledge during a townhall meeting in late 2022 to remove the fuel subsidy immediately. While answering a question on if he would remove fuel subsidy if elected, Peter Obi responded, “I can assure you it (fuel subsidy) would go immediately. Subsidy, I’ve said it before is organised crime and I cannot allow it to stay a day longer.”
It is unclear how Peter Obi expects the NNPC Ltd to finance the fuel subsidy that would be required to maintain fuel price at the previous amount of N899 per litre it sold the product to its customers. The NNPCL has ceased to be sole off taker of PMS from the Dangote Refinery, which has opened the door for other marketers to buy directly from the refinery and sell to Nigerians at market prices.