By Kayode Sanni-Arewa

The pan-Yoruba socio-cultural and socio-political organization, Afenifere, has called on the Federal Government to stick to the claim by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Mr Heineken Lokpobiri, that President Bola Tinubu administration did not instruct the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) to increase the fuel pump price by ordering the corporation to reverse the announced increment.

Naijablitznews reports this was contained in a statement signed by the organization’s spokesman, Comrade Jare Ajayi, Afenifere asserted that Nigerians are currently going through a lot of challenges as a result of the biting socio-economic crunch and the attendant hardships.

“It is therefore a wrong time to come up with any policy that will increase the undesirable challenges Nigerians are going through presently. Failure by the NNPCL to reverse the latest increment in fuel price will rub off negatively on some policies of the Tinubu administration to ease things for the citizens. Policies such as the Students Loan Scheme and Consumer Credit Scheme that are just taking off”.

It would be recalled that the NNPCL, on Tuesday, September 3, 2024, raised the pump price of petrol to N897 per litre from the official price of N617. The announcement came just a few days after the national oil company said it was facing challenges of a huge debt burden estimated at $6.8 billion.

Ironically, the announcement of the debt came just not long after the same corporation announced that it made a profit of N3.3 Trillion Net Profit in its 2023 Audited Financial Statement.

Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Mr. Lokpobiri, on Tuesday, announced, through his Special Adviser on Media and Communication, Mr. Nnemeka Okafor, that his Ministry did not authorize the NNPCL to increase fuel pump prices.

It is crucial, therefore, that the government order the corporation to reverse the price hike forthwith as it is already causing untold hardship for the people”.

With the latest increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol to N897 per litre, the cost of fuel in Nigeria has risen by 460 per cent in 15 months.

Afenifere contended that it is curious that an organization that declared a profit running into trillions of Naira could, almost in the same breath, claim that it is indebted to the tune of nearly seven billion US dollars.

“Why not pay off the debt from the available fund before declaring it as profit?”
The statement further argued that the oil corporation seems to be making Nigerians pay for its inefficiency.

“It is common knowledge that the cost and availability of energy such as petrol, gas, electricity, diesel and kerosine are major factors not only in production and services but also in the quality of well-being that Nigerians can enjoy.

“Hikes in prices of these energy sources have astronomically increased the costs of services and commodities, reduced the disposal incomes of average Nigerians and heightened their health risk.

“The combination of all these is making a daily living an onerous task for the majority of the citizens. Considering the fact that millions of Nigerians had been described as being ‘multi-dimensionally poor’, the recent hike in costs of fuel and electricity are uploading the number of people in that category phenomenally”.

While urging the federal government, through the appropriate channel(s), to immediately order the NNPCL to reverse the price increase, Afenifere feared that failure to do so may imperil the assurances being given by President Bola Tinubu that Nigerians’ pains will soon be over”, he said.