PDP TO BUHARI’S GOVT: Stop fleecing Nigerians, reduce fuel price to N70 per litre

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to stop fleecing Nigerians with high fuel price.

He said the government should immediately reduce the pump price to N70 per liter to reflect the appropriate pricing template following the fall in the price of crude oil in the international market.

The party was reacting to the Federal Government’s reduction of the fuel pump price to N123.5 per litre.

In a statement on Tuesday by its national publicity secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP completely rejected the N123.5 per litre price announced by the Federal Government, which has even remained unenforced.

It described it as highly provocative and a further display of the insensitivity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to the plight of Nigerians, particularly as they battle the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The party insisted that a N121 per litre price amounts to fleecing Nigerians of over N50 per litre of fuel.

“This is in continuation of the N55 per litre overcharge, which Nigerians had borne under the inappropriate N125 per litre, which prevailed for months, before it was brought down to N123.5 per litre, in spite of the crash in international price of crude oil.

“The PDP rejects the unnecessary price pinching and demands that the Federal Government, should without further delay, implement the appropriate price as well as declare and account for the billions of naira accruable as overcharge since the crash in crude oil price.

“The failure to reduce the pump price as well as the non-declaration of the overcharge is completely unacceptable to Nigerians, as it only points to questions of corruption in the system,” the opposition party said.

The PDP maintained that the APC and its government had no justifiable reason to retain the pump price of fuel at over N70 per litre.

It challenged the APC administration to disprove Nigerians by immediately publishing the prevailing landing cost, depot cost, trucking cost as well as the retail outlet admin cost and show why the pump price should be above N70 per litre.