The coalition of South East Youth Leaders, COSEYL, the apex socio-political youth group in the South East has expressed dissatisfaction over the recent increase in petroleum price and electricity tariff.
ABN TV reports that the Coalition says President Muhammadu Buhari has demonstrated that he is not a man of his words, wondering why the federal government should take such a decision as a time when there are two conflicting ex-depot price caps fixed by a yet-to-be known person.
COSEYL in a statement issued on Tuesday by the President-General, Hon. Goodluck Egwu Ibem and Secretary General, Comrade Kanice Igwe said President Buhari as an opposition leader had led a protest when past administration increased fuel price.
The Coalition says this did not come at a right time, adding that the government should offer palliative support to consumers.
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“COSEYL’s anger stems from the fact that at a time there were two conflicting ex depot price caps fixed by a yet-to-be known whom, the federal government slapped such a policy on its citizens. This has, however, proven to Nigeria and Nigerians that the president of the federation who is substantive minister of petroleum is not a man of his word especially should we consider that his party led the Occupy Nigeria protest and sit-in when the previous administration had removed subsidy during Christmas and new year festivity of 2011/12.
“More lamentable is the statement credited to our state minister of petroleum that government was deregulating the downstream and midstream sector of the petroleum industry and that the policy does not represent nor reflect its position. COSEYL wishes to remind the federal government under the current administration, we now have what is termed under-recocery payment where the federal government through the NNPC markets solely the products through NNPC’s marketing subsidiary, Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC. The marketers – most of whom belong to the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, IPMAN, buy at ex depot price and resell to the final and local consumers cliched the common man (in the street).
“In its own release as of last Thursday, IPMAN stated unequivocally that it does not have any standing order as regards price modulation. Equally did the PPMC state almost the same thing. In a situation like this and were the federal government trying to deregulate, what then stops the Petroleum Product Price Regulation Agency, PPPRA, from coming up with definite price template. The impact was that such policy summersault as it were, led to indefinite price tag on the product with the poor bearing the brunt.
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“Oil is a naturally occurring resources God and nature lavishly blessed Nigeria with but how Nigerians pay exorbitantly to consume same is, not say the least, worrisome and telling of leadership failure. There are too many implications this had on the economy. Production is said never to be complete until it reaches the door of the final consumer. The increase brought about increase in transportation cost that people, the final consumers, could not transport themselves to markets to procure goods as many farmers could not access market. All this happened when the nation was coming out of COVID-19 whose global impact on world economy is being felt everywhere; when purchasing power was declining and businesses going under as jobs were being lost.
“Equally lamentable is the case of electricity bill where previous and successive governments had been spending tax payers’ monies with no end in sight. The evils associated with the two policies of price increase are in tandem and anti-people than pro-people or pro-poor. Many artisans, informal sectors and micro industries who do not have access to electricity we’re faced with buying fuel at exorbitant price! Productivity and output has been greatly impacted negatively by this. This is not the way to go.
“COSEYL wishes to remind the federal government and by the same token the substantive minister of petroleum and president, Mohammadu Buhari to look at himself and government with the mirror of 2014/15 or reflect back in time to 2011/12 and explain to Nigeria and indigent Nigerians why it is not fully deserving of the appellation: Hypocrite” the Coalition says.
