Following the recent
pronouncement by the President and Commander in Chief of the Federal Republic
of Nigeria President Muhammadu Buhari on
increase in pump price, we the Civil Society Groups in Abia State namely Foundation
for Environmental Rights, Advocacy and Development (FENRAD) and Society for
Economic Rights and Social Justice (SERSJ) have condemned in strong terms the
move by the presidency, describing it as a height of insensitivity, disregard
to the plight of hardship faced by the majority of Nigerians at this critical
time in our nation’s history,
Rising from a press
conference held today in Aba, the commercial nerve centre of Abia State. The
Spokesmen for these groups, Comrade Nnanna Nelson Nwafor and Comrade Nwokocha
Anozie Innocent condemned the executive’s high handedness with which the
increase in pump price was released. They described it as unfortunate, since
the Presidency did not give recourse to the plight of majority of Nigerians. In
addition to this, the group stressed that it is undemocratic, considering the
fact that the various Stakeholders such as the Labour Union, TUC, the Civil
Society Groups, the members of the forth estate of the realm (the media) and
other relevant stakeholders were not consulted.
The increment came at
the wrong time bearing in mind that the 2016 national budget that was just
signed into law by the President is yet to stimulate the economy
From the foregoing, we
demand for the immediate reversal of the pump price.
We require the Minister
of State for Petroleum Mr. Ibe Ukachukwu to immediately convey a stakeholders
meeting of relevant parties with a view to come up with an agreed pump price.
The Minister of State
for Petroleum should explain to Nigerians the essence and relevance of the price
modulation principles.
Finally, we demand that
the President Buhari should relinquish his position as the Minister of
Petroleum and at the same time appoint a substantive Minister for Petroleum
.With the reality on ground it has shown that the president lack the capacity,
experience and knowledge to run the Petroleum Sector, which is a very sensitive
sector in the Nigerian economy that requires professional manning the sector.
We call on the
government to lift embargo on source of foreign exchange which has made it
extremely difficult and strenuous for petroleum marketers to import cargo as
guaranteed.
Signed
Comrade Nelson Nnanna
Nwafor
Executive Director
FENRAD
Comrade Innocent Anozie
Nwokocha
Executive Director
SERSJ
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