The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the recent fuel price increase to over N1,000 per litre, describing it as a brutal assault on Nigerians’ wellbeing.
In a statement, Debo Ologunagba, the party’s national publicity secretary, said the increase is a recipe for crisis, exacerbating economic hardship under the APC administration.
The PDP accused the APC government of being anti-people, unconcerned, and deaf to Nigerians’ agonies, with over 150 million living below the poverty line.
The party criticised the government’s secretive and corrupt management of the petroleum sector, pushing the economy to the precipice with its ill-conceived policies.
The PDP questioned President Tinubu’s foreign trips, wondering what he tells foreign leaders about Nigeria’s socio-economic dislocation.
The party restated its offer of constructive advice on economy management, ignored by the APC government, and called for an immediate reversal of the fuel price increase.
“Today, under the Tinubu-led APC administration, over 150 million Nigerians have sunk below the poverty line, and businesses are collapsing daily as the naira now exchange for over N1,600 to a dollar with over 34% inflation rate and over 40% unemployment rate, which are expected to rise further with the latest draconian increase in the price of fuel,” the statement reads in part.
“There is practically no hope in sight under the current APC government policies as major multinational companies continue to exit our country in droves in the face of ill-conceived and ill-implemented macro-economic policies.
“President Tinubu is the Minister of Petroleum Resources and cannot exonerate his government and officials from the secretive and fraudulent management of the petroleum sector, which is fast pushing our nation’s economy to the precipice.
“Moreover, it is inexplicable that the APC administration continues to increase fuel prices despite the scandalous revelation in the public domain that it is secretly paying a whopping N5.4 trillion as fuel subsidy for 2024.
“With the hopeless state of affairs of our nation today, our Party wonders what President Tinubu, during his numerous trips abroad, says to his foreign counterparts in nations where leaders prioritise the welfare of their people!
“Nigerians will recall that the PDP had on several occasions offered constructive advice and suggestions on the management of the economy, which the APC government, in its arrogance in failure ignored.
“The PDP calls on President Tinubu to save the country from further socio-economic dislocation by immediately reversing the latest provocative increase in fuel price and revisiting all life-discounting and suffocating policies of the APC government.”
