Some Nigerians across tribes and regions have been agonising since news broke Tuesday morning of another hike in the price of Premium Motor Spirit, popularly called petrol, saying they have missed the immediate-past government of Mohammadu Buhari in a short while.
Nigerians woke up to the sudden increase from N537/litre to N617/litre at some filling stations operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited in Abuja.
Confirming the development, secretary, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Abuja-Suleja, Mohammed Shuaibu, said: “This is because NNPCL is still the major importer of petrol into Nigeria currently, though other marketers are gradually importing the commodity. The price Tuesday morning at some NNPCL stations is N617/litre.”
President Bola Tinubu had during his inaugural address on May 29, announced that subsidy on petrol had ended, a development that led to the jump in the price of the commodity from N198/litre to over N500/litre on May 30, 2023.
Nigerians have, however, taken tother social media handle to express their feelings.
A Lagos based self employed man, Aare Bola Fakunle, posted on his Facebook page how he has suddenly missed the immediate-past administration of former President Mohammadu Buhari.
Fakunle wrote: “Baba Buhari, please come back we are missing you.”
A Port Harcourt based Private Secondary School teacher, Mr. Clement Fasaye, also gave kudos to former President Buhari for considering the plight of the poor and refused to remove the fuel subsidy during his time.
Faster wrote: “This is not a Renewed Hope but a Renewed Shege. We have to give it to Baba Buhari who considered the level of poverty in Nigeria and resisted pressure by the IMF to remove fuel subsidy.”
On his page, a popular Nigerian activist, Deji Adeyanju, advised President Tinubu to adopt the deregulation plan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar.
The Kogi-born law-graduate made the remark Tuesday via his social media handles.
He said: “You want to remove subsidy but you won’t sell refineries that produce zero oil so that the sector can be fully deregulated but you can invest billions of dollars into Dangote’s refinery and you say this country is not jinxed? Only Atiku had a clear plan on how to solve this issue.”
He urged the president to ignore individual differences and adopt Atiku’s deregulation ideas.
“There should be no arrogance to solving a nation’s problems. Borrow Atiku’s plan on how to fully deregulate the oil sector.
You are already president. Halt the suffering in the land. Sell the useless refineries, bring back subsidy & remove it finally when refineries start working.”
Also reacting, a former federal lawmaker representing Kaduna Central, Senator Shehu Sani, revealed the sudden cause of the petrol hike to concerned Nigerians on his verified Twitter handle.
Sani wrote Petroleum. “Petroleum is imported with foreign currency. If the value of the foreign currency goes up, the price of petrol will go up with the removal of subsidy. This is the energy and economic reality we have to live with, until manna comes or miracle happens.”
Source: blueprints
