A former general secretary of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF), Anthony Sani, has faulted the ruling pump price of petrol in the face of economic realities across the country.
He particularly indicted the Nigeria National petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) of insensitivity to the consequences of the price regime on the poor.
In an interview with the Tribune Online on Tuesday via the social media, the former delegate to the 2014 National Conference said it contrasted with the policies of the government on the removal of petrol subsidy.
Sani noted that the general expectation of the citizens was that the removal of the subsidy on petrol by President Bola Tinubu and the takeoff of the Dangote Refinery would bring about a paradigm shift in the oil industry and sucour for the people.
The ACF member of the Board of Trustees (BoT) lamented the sustained fuel importation and prohibitive pump price of petrol, stressing ‘to jerk up the pump price instead of lowering same is not forgiven in the circumstances.”
According to Sani, “When President Tinubu removed petroleum subsidies, floated the naira and the pump price went over and above N600 per litre, many of us were still hopeful that whenever Dangote Refinery started production, importation of petroleum products would stop, and the pump price would come down.
“Now that Dangote Refinery has started production, Nigerians expect importation to stop and pump price to fall bellow N600.
“So, while the urge by NNPCL to increase the pump price may be understandable, to jerk up the pump price instead of lowering same is not forgiven in the circumstances.
“NNPCL should note that while wealth is preferred over poverty, to be rich where most people are poor does not fulfill the common vision of the good life.”
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