National Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh; and APC’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed
Discordant tunes have trailed the federal government’s decision to
slash the official price of petrol from N97 a litre to N87 a litre, with
the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) hailing the directive, All
Progressives Congress (APC) accusing the government of deception, while
the labour unions have called for a further cut.
During an interactive session with journalists on Monday, the National
Publicity Secretary of PDP, Olisa Metuh, dismissed critics who alleged
that the government’s decision to slash the price of petrol by N10 was
politically motivated, arguing that it was predicated on the reality of
the international price of oil which has fallen by almost 60 per cent
since June last year.
According to Metuh, “This is not the first time that we have had a fuel
price reduction in this country. You will recall that the late
President Umaru Yar’Adua reduced the pump price from N75 to N66. And it
was sold at N66 for a very long time.
“That was not politics. He did it in June 2007 and there was no
election around the corner. In this particular instance, oil prices
crashed and the government and Minister of Petroleum decided that owing
to the lower price of crude oil, there will be a reduction of fuel in
Nigeria.
“It has nothing to do with the election. If the price remains where it
is, there is no justification for any increase. So what Nigerians should
be asking for now is complete deregulation of the industry so that it
will be reflective of the world price.”
Also assessing the PDP presidential campaigns in the South-west and
South-east zones, the party held the view that it has wide acceptability
in all zones of the country, adding that the opposition APC cannot pull
off a victory in any of the zones over the ruling party.
It further said that the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram, would have
overrun half of Nigeria, if not for the tactics employed by President
Goodluck Jonathan in tackling the insurgency.
Metuh said the president’s train in these regions was overwhelmed by
the support shown by the electorate, which thronged out to welcome
Jonathan and the party to their respective states.
He noted that as the campaign commences in the North-west zone, the
party would proudly showcase its numerous achievements in railways,
agriculture, education and others.
He pointed to the construction of 150 Almajiri schools and the
establishment of nine universities in the North out of the 14 new
universities created by the Jonathan administration.
Metuh said that the PDP would post a victory in the forthcoming
election because it had justified the last 15 years in power, especially
in the last six years of the Jonathan administration.
“Zone by zone we are going to beat the opposition. There is no zone where the APC will beat the PDP,” he boasted.
Dismissing the view of critics on the poor handling of the insurgency
in the North-east by the PDP-led government, Metuh said had the Jonathan
administration not withstood the insurgency in the manner it did, half
of the country would have been overrun.
On the issue of defections by some of its members as was the case in
Ogun, Ondo and Niger States, he pointed out that while the party had
lost some members, its ranks had been swelled by others as was the case
in Kano where the PDP lost a sitting governor and got a former governor
in the state who moved with his people to the party.
Speaking on the endorsement of the APC governorship candidate in Ogun
State, Ibikunle Amosun, by former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Metuh
said the PDP, which provided the platform for him to occupy the number
one office in the land at the dawn of democracy, still respects him as a
father.
He said whatever views the party holds would be communicated to him
during private engagements, as he remains a respected elder of the party
whose achievements during his tenure contributed to the performance
that the PDP is showcasing in its present campaign train across the
country.
“We have very deep respect for the former president. The PDP brought
him back into reckoning and provided him a platform to become president.
“We will not trade words with him. This party (PDP) respects him and
needs his support. Whatever issue we have to raise with him, we will
engage him in private and not in public," he said.
The PDP spokesman also called on the police and Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate allegations that some members of
the National Working Committee (NWC) of the PDP allegedly collected
N750 million from Dumebi Kachukwu to facilitate the governorship
ambition of Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, a former governorship aspirant in Delta
State.
On the suspension of the former National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji
Bamanga Tukur, Metuh described Tukur as a committed member of the party
that had served the party diligently.
On its part, APC said day that the pump price of a litre of petrol should not exceed N70.
The party also accused the federal government of deception by its
so-called fuel price reduction, saying a 10.3 per cent slash in the
price of petrol was tokenism at a time the price of crude oil had
crashed by about 60 per cent.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai
Mohammed, the party said the pump price of a litre of fuel should not be
more than N70, adding that the government was forcing Nigerians to
subsidise the massive corruption in the oil sector by N17 for every
litre of fuel.
“When crude oil was selling at $100 per barrel, the landing cost of PMS
without subsidy was N125 a litre. Now that the oil price has crashed to
about $44 per barrel (sic), the landing cost without subsidy is about
N65 per litre.
“The same goes for diesel which should not sell for more than N90 per litre,” it said.
APC noted that while governments of countries, which are not as
economically endowed as Nigeria had reduced the pump price of fuel as
far back as early January 2015, Nigeria which is the world’s sixth
largest producer of oil, is just announcing a price slash that is far
below those countries.
“Early this year, Zambia slashed the price of petrol by 23 per cent
while Tanzania reduced the pump price of the product by 16%. In the US,
which until recently was importing crude oil from Nigeria, the price of
fuel has fallen for 113 consecutive days as of January 16.
“Therefore, the 10.3% price slash in Nigeria is too meagre, too late,” the party said.
It blamed the government’s delay in slashing the price of imported
petroleum products following the crash in crude oil prices on massive
corruption in the oil sector and lack of political will on the part of
the country's leadership.
“With Nigeria depending on importation of petroleum products to meet
about 90% of its domestic consumption, the country is relying heavily on
term contracts entered into with petroleum product trading companies to
meet its domestic demand.
“It is possible that the petroleum products pricing formulas embedded
in these contracts, which generally run for up to one-and-a-half years
and in some cases two years, have not anticipated these low prices.
“Therefore, unless the government moves to renegotiate the contracts
now, it may not reap the full benefits of the decline in petroleum
prices. But here is the catch: Since the government and its agents have
skimmed off huge ‘commissions’ from the firms with which the term
contracts were signed, it could not possibly go back and renegotiate
those contracts or go into new forward contracts that will reflect the
current reduction in crude oil prices.
“It takes a strong willed, determined and transparent leadership to
immediately call in the petroleum products contracts for
re-negotiations, as this will represent a huge blow on corruption in the
sector since clearly ‘commissions’ would have been paid by petroleum
product traders on the existing contracts.
“This explains the token reduction in the fuel price, which the
government must have hoped will fool an unsuspecting public, especially a
few weeks to elections,” APC said.
The party also wondered why the PDP-led federal government had to wait
for a widely publicised call by its presidential candidate, Gen.
Muhammadu Buhari, and some other concerned Nigerians before doing what
the government of other countries in Africa and elsewhere around the
world had already done.
It called on the federal government to immediately slash the price of
petrol to N70 a litre and the prices of diesel and kerosene (the
official price of kerosene in N50 a litre) to nothing more than N90 a
litre respectively, and stop stealing from Nigerians, who have been
pauperised by its bad record of governance since 1999.
APC’s call for a further reduction in the official price of petrol was supported by the labour movement, which at the same time lauded the federal government for cutting the price to N87 a litre in the first instance.
APC’s call for a further reduction in the official price of petrol was supported by the labour movement, which at the same time lauded the federal government for cutting the price to N87 a litre in the first instance.
In a statement yesterday, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) said it was
not entirely impressed, stating: “While we describe the reduction as a
welcome one, it believes that the reduction is not enough.” It also
called for a reduction in the price of diesel from N160 a litre.
The NLC added that the reduction by the government was done by fiat, as
it is the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency (PPPRA)
relying on the existing price template that could arrive at a fair and
just price reduction.
In the statement signed by its General Secretary, Dr. Peter Ozo-Esan,
the NLC commended the government for heeding its clamour for a fuel
price reduction following the sustained price slump of crude oil in the
international market.
It however noted that since the government had already devalued the
naira substantially, the full benefits of the falling crude prices could
not be passed on to Nigerians with the reduction amounting to just 10.3
per cent compared to 33 per cent in most countries.
“The price reduction we envisaged is the one that will operate within
the institutional framework of PPPRA. The logic of our reasoning is
hinged on the premise that only the PPPRA is charged with the statutory
responsibility of determining petroleum product prices based on a
relatively acceptable template,” the NLC said.
The NLC observed that the PPPRA board, of which labour is a statutory
member, had been sidelined for too long and should be constituted
immediately to discharge its statutory functions.
“However, beyond the issue of the price reduction of PMS, the
regulatory agencies in the downstream sector of the oil industry need to
protect Nigerians against monopolistic exploitation.
“We make bold to refer to the unacceptable price manipulation by
monopolies in the oil sector where prices have remained unreasonably
high for diesel, which is deregulated.
“The regulatory agencies are called upon to break this stranglehold on consumers,” it said.
Also, the President General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC), Mr.
Bobboi Kaigama, hailed the reduction which the congress said it had been
clamouring for since oil prices began to fall in the international
market.
In his contribution, the President of the National Union of Teachers
(NUT), Dr. Michael Alogba, in a telephone conversation with THISDAY,
called for a further price reduction to N50 a litre, while the General
Secretary of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities
(SSANU), Mr. Promise Adewusi, said the reduction was a welcome
development even if it is seen as a “political manoeuvre” by the
government.
In a text message to THISDAY, Adewusi called for a reduction in the
price of kerosene, which is used as a cooking fuel by many Nigerians.
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