Nigeria, May 13, 2016 – The Transition Monitoring Group(TMG), a coalition of over 400 civic organisations working to promote democracy and good governance in Nigeria says it has rejected the N145 per litre of petrol imposed on Nigerians by the Federal Government.
It also called on the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu to immediately throw in the towel, for serially demonstrating what it called a lack of understanding of issues in the oil and gas sector.
TMG called on all Nigerians to reject hike in the price of petrol, and ‘’prepare for mass action to send a clear message that this imposition cannot stand’’.
“To say the least, this imposition portrays the government as insensitive, and out of touch with the daily unbearable plight of the ordinary Nigerian’’, TMG said in a statement signed by its Chairman, Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi.
The TMG said introduction of the new pump price is ill-timed and badly advised.
“It is tantamount to killing a willing horse to ask the Nigerian people, who are already carrying the heavy burden of the failure of governance over the years, to take on one more load of extreme economic hardship, as represented by the imposed price of petrol”, the group said.
The TMG stressed that the support of government is conditioned on the impact of its policies on the long suffering people of Nigeria.
“Our allegiance is to the Nigerian people, and whenever they come under the hammer blows of insensitive policies, we are duty-bound to speak up in defence of ordinary citizens. As is the case with this latest hike, we must place it on record that it is absolutely anti-people.
“TMG will join forces with Labour and other activists to resist this hike. With the many economic woes afflicting the country, including job losses, massive unemployment and galloping-inflation, the least we expected the government to do was to give Nigerians a breather, and allow some form of recovery to take place through a stimulus package injected into the economy to rev it back to life before placing any further burdens.
“To our utmost disappointment however, ordinary Nigerians have been hung out to dry, and left at the mercy of shylock fuel importers. These importers who can mobilize funds to import petrol, but cannot invest in refineries, are the ones being given a free rein to exert profit from the blood and sweat of ordinary citizens’’, TMG said.
According to the group, the Nigerian people feel particularly let down by the unending flip-flopping of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu. Kachikwu’s chameleonic pronouncements on the fuel situation over the past months.
“One minute he is declaring that refineries have started production, the next minute, he is telling the nation all manner of cock and bull stories about strategic reserves, and the effect of the activities of economic saboteurs. We wonder why ordinary Nigerians would be made to bear the brunt of the crimes of economic saboteurs, whom government with all its might, is not ready to deal with’’, it said, adding that the endless prevarication has kept Nigerians in the dark about the real issues in the oil and gas sector.
“Kachikwu’s trumpeted move to unbundle the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation as panacea to the issues in the oil and gas sector.
“As it stands it has all become motion, at the expense of real impact. As if to add insult to injury, Kachikwu’s announcement of the hike failed to provide any road map towards ending importation of petrol, which is the root cause of the current crisis.
