FG’s reduction of petrol price hypocritical, says APC

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State has rejected the slight adjustment in the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) as announced by the Federal Government on Sunday, describing the development as hypocritical.
Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, on Sunday evening, announced that a litre of PMS had been pegged at N87 as against the N97 which it sold since January, 2012 when the decision of President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to fully remove the subsidy on fuel importation met a stiff resistance from most Nigerians.
In its reaction to the announcement made by the minister, the APC, in a statement by its Director of Publicity, Olawale Sadare, challenge the president and his economic team to explain how the new pump price came into being and without making any guiding statement on it.
“It is to the common knowledge of everyone that the prices of crude oil in the global market have fallen by 50 per cent but the Nigerian government chose to announce a phantom 10 per cent reduction in the official pump price of petrol in what we suspect to be another subtle attempt to evolve a soft landing for the president in next month’s general elections.
“In as much as Nigerians are amazed that the PDP administration of Dr. Jonathan can bow to the pressure, which first came from the APC in Oyo State, to reduce the fuel pump price, it is curious to note that the announcement in the dead of the night by the minister did not meet the expectations of the people and as such cannot be celebrated.
“What happens to the prices of other petroleum products such as kerosene which sells for between N120 and N150 when its landing cost is N45.90k? Why does Nigeria still depend largely on smaller countries with functional refineries to run its economy when we are the world’s sixth-largest exporter of crude oil? Why does the country lose at least 400,000 barrel of crude oil to pirates on daily basis?
“Until the unprecedented high level of insincerity with which the nation’s oil industry is being managed by the present administration is tackled, Nigerians would not get a fair treatment from operators in the sector and this would continue to cause unnecessary hardship for the masses. Subsidy or no subsidy, the citizenry would always demand transparent handling of the nation’s resources to guarantee good governance in the land.” APC stated.