Slash Fuel Price, Oyo APC Tells FG

The Oyo State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has demanded from the Federal Government, an immediate reduction in the pump price of petroleum products in view of the crash of the price of crude oil in the international market.

In a statement issued in Ibadan on Sunday by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, the APC recalled that President Goodluck Jonathan and his economic management team arrived at N97 per litre of PMS in 2012 citing skyrocketing prices of crude oil in the global market, which necessarily rubbed on high landing cost of imported petroleum products particularly the premium motor spirit otherwise known as petrol.

“The oil price has fallen by 49% from 2013 prices and Jonathan administration still claimed it spent a whooping N971b on its subsidy payment in 2014. Does it mean that Nigeria has been buying refined petroleum products at the same rate from nations with functional refineries despite the crash in crude oil prices? How come Ghana was able to implement a 13% reduction in the prices of same products in its local market?

“As much as we know that the present administration would never be transparent in its economic dealings with the citizenry since it has prioritized promotion of corruption and pursuit of parochial interests, we challenge the president and his economic team to be fair to Nigerians for once and implement a drastic reduction in the pump prices of petroleum products with a view to alleviating the suffering which the masses currently experience”, Sadare said.

The party, however, praised Senator Abiola Ajimobi over what it described as the governor’s rare display of tact, vision and competence, which made the economy of Oyo State to remain strong despite the threat posed by persistent slash in the statutory allocations coming from the federal government since last year May or there about.

“It can only take a tactful, visionary and pro-active mind to face the challenge of drastic dwindling allocations to a state like Oyo with weak Internally Generated Revenue base to keep the machinery of government afloat. With a paltry sum of N2.9b being received by a governor who is responsible for the monthly payment of N4.95b in overhead cost, the task could be more than daunting.

“This the governor does effortlessly in addition to regular maintenance of environment, security and improvement on social infrastructure without borrowing a dime from anywhere. We wish the previous administrations of Senator Ladoja and Chief Alao-Akala had been judicious with the many cash windfalls which they got while in power and thus lessened the burden on the present government”, the statement added.