The Immediate past Governor of Ekiti State, Mr. Ayodele Fayose, has asked the Federal Government to perish the idea of increasing the pump price of petrol from N145 per litre to N185 in March next year.
He described the planned increment as a way of taking back whatever is added to workers’ salary as minimum wage increment.
“Nigerians have suffered enough in the hands of the APC government and won’t accept any further upward review of petrol pump price.
“They are delaying the increment till March because of its effects on the February 2019 elections,” he said.
Fayose, according to a statement by his Media Aide, Lere Olayinka, said the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation’s presentation to the Senate last week that N145 fuel pump price was unrealistic and that the pump price of petrol was supposed to be N185 per litre as against the official price of N145 per litre was a way to prepare the minds of Nigerians for the planned increment.
Fayose, who said the NNPC must explain to Nigerians where it derived the powers to spend $1.05bn (over N350bn) from crude oil sales to subsidise petrol, noted that it was unexplainable for any agency of the federal government to spend revenue belonging to the entire country without first remitting the fund into the federation account.
The former governor said it was uncharitable for anyone to draw a comparison between the pump price of petrol in West African countries with that of Nigeria without considering the cost of living in those countries and whether or not they are oil-producing countries like Nigeria.
He said, “Smuggling is an outdated excuse for increasing petrol pump price, it will no longer be accepted by Nigerians.
“Nigerians are suffering. Millions of jobs have been lost and even many of those still employed are not gainfully employed. The federal government must not add to the burden of the suffering masses by increasing the pump price of petrol as being planned.”