The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives has rejected the reported increase in the pump price of fuel from N148 to N151.56.

Minority Leader of the House, Ndidu Elumelu, made the position of the lawmakers known in a statement on Wednesday. He described the announced price as unacceptable, saying it would result in an increase in the already high cost of consumer goods and services, as well as worsen the current economic hardship being suffered by Nigerians.

“The minority caucus in the House of Representatives rejects the announced increase in the pump price of fuel,” the lawmaker stated.

He added, “This is because such increase will directly result in more hardship on our citizens, particularly at this critical time when a majority of Nigerians across the country are struggling to survive under the burden of the high cost of living and low purchasing power occasioned by the prevailing economic challenges.

“Any increase in the cost of an essential commodity like fuel will, therefore, bring more hardship to the people and as such should not be contemplated.”

According to the minority leader, the opposition lawmakers are challenging the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led government to rather come up with strategies that will lead to decrease and not increase in the cost of domestic fuel.

He stressed that it was important for the government to revamp the nation’s refineries, instead of resorting to fuel price increase at the detriment of Nigerians.

Elumelu, therefore, directed the PPMC to immediately rescind the purported announcement and revert to the former price, with a view to further reviewing it downward.

The statement was in reaction to media reports that the Petroleum Product Marketing Company (PPMC) had increased the ex-depot price of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as petrol. The PPMC, a subsidiary of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), is said to have increased the price from N138.62 per litre to N151.56 per litre.

Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the reported increase in the price of petrol to N151 per litre and electricity tariff to N66 per kwh.

In a statement on Wednesday by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the party described the increase as callous and cruel, alleging that the All Progressives Congress (APC) was punishing Nigerians.

“The party demands an immediate reversal of the prices to avert a national crisis, as the increase will result in upsurge in costs of goods and services and worsen the biting hardship being faced by Nigerians who are already impoverished and overburdened by APC-imposed high cost of living in the last five years,” the statement claimed.

It added, “Our party asserts that by increasing the price of fuel from the N87 per litre it sold under the PDP to an excruciating N151 while at the same time allowing the hike in electricity tariff from N30.23 per kwh to over N66, the APC has left no one in doubt that its agenda is to inflict pain and hardship on Nigerians to satisfy their selfish interests.”

The PDP stated that the increase in the price of such essential supplies was unjustifiable, claiming that the APC was attempting to rationalise the excruciating hardship being suffered by the people. It stressed that it was distressing that the present administration increased the cost of essential commodities at the time the leadership of other countries were offering palliatives to their citizens to cushion the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The party said it was shocking that the reported increase could be approved at a time when many Nigerians were struggling to afford staple foods and other necessities of life. It, therefore, challenged the APC and the Muhammadu Buhari administration to publish the parameters with which it arrived at the reported increase.

The PDP believes given the prevailing values in the international market, the appropriate price template for domestic pump price in Nigeria ought not to be above N100 per litre.

“Our party further challenges the APC-led Federal Government to publish details of its sleazy and over-bloated oil subsidy regime, including the involvement of APC interests in the claimed under-recovery for unnamed West African countries, running into trillions of naira, while Nigerians are made to bear the burden of high fuel costs,” the party said.

It alleged, “Moreover, the APC and its government have failed to allow an open investigation into allegations of fuel price overcharge, as well as the fraudulent subsidy regime through which over N14 trillion had allegedly been frittered by unscrupulous individuals in the APC.

“Our fear is that the APC is pushing Nigerians to the wall with its obnoxious and anti-people proclivities and we caution that nobody should misinterpret the peaceful and law-abiding nature of Nigerians as a sign of weakness.”

The party called on the National Assembly to save the nation by calling the APC and its administration to order to avoid a crisis in the country. ChannelsTv