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Northern coalition gives FG ultimatum to reverse fuel price

By Saxone Akhaine and Abdulganiyu Alabi, Kaduna
07 July 2020   |   4:02 am
Coalition of Nigeria Citizens Action Group (NCAG) is demanding the reversal of petrol pump price, against last week’s increase announced by the Federal Government.

Calls for Kyari, Sylva, others’ resignation
Coalition of Nigeria Citizens Action Group (NCAG) is demanding the reversal of petrol pump price, against last week’s increase announced by the Federal Government.

The Northern coalition also asked the Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva; Group Managing Director (GMD) of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Mele Kyari; and Executive Secretary of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), Abdulkadir Umar, to resign their positions within the next seven days, saying they were not serving the interests of Nigerians.

At a press conference yesterday at Arewa House, Kaduna, members of the Arewa group, pointed out that the actions of the major stakeholders like Sylva, Kyari and Umar led the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to hike the price of fuel, which could incite Nigerians against the government.

Chairman of NCAG and President of Northern Youth Council (NYC), Isah Abubakar, told journalists that the group would mobilise and occupy the NNPC headquarters in Abuja, if the fuel price was not reversed within seven days.

“Nigerians will recall that on May 11, 2016, the Federal Government, through NNPC, announced removal of fuel subsidy, which necessitated hike in PMS from N97 to N145, an increase of 66.67 per cent, a similar policy the former administration of Goodluck Jonathan tried that Nigerians rejected outright with massive protests nationwide.

“Out of goodwill, unblemished trust and unprecedented love Nigerians have for President Buhari and his administration, the policy re-introduction was never questioned; rather citizens endured despite its effect on their day-to-day activities, with hope for good governance in return, as the new government of Buhari needed every cooperation and support of citizens to deliver then,” the group stated.

However, it regretted that the citizens’ hope became a mirage, an unfortunate experience that none of their expectations came to pass. “Instead, Nigerians’ patience is taken for foolishness as National Assembly queried Federal Government on May 31, 2019 after a revelation that we are paying the highest subsidy in the history of Nigeria under same government that hiked PMS price in the name of total subsidy removal. Nigeria spent N11 trillion in subsidy in six years.”

Abubakar remarked that aside numerous revelations in the recent that exposed non-remittance of tax into the federation account by the NNPC, there was violation of the Procurement Act and scandalous contract award process by the same NNPC, such as revealed by Sylva’s predecessor in a leaked memo to Buhari on October 4, 2017.

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