The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APCPCC) has<\/p>\n
asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Federal Government to stop
\nstealing from Nigerians and allow them to enjoy the relief that has come
\nto consumers of petroleum products globally.<\/p>\n
A statement from the Directorate of Media and Publicity of the APC
\npresidential campaign said it was disturbing that in spite of the fall in
\nthe global price of crude oil, Nigerians still buy petroleum products at
\npump prices as if the global price of crude oil had remained at $100
\n(USD) per barrel.<\/p>\n
The statement reads: \u201cThe current attempt by the government to deregulate
\nthe prices of some petroleum products has been completely compromised to
\nsatisfy few money bags to the detriment of the Nigerian people and the
\neconomy.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe price of diesel which has been deregulated since 2009 still sells at
\nthe pump price of N150 and N170 per litre, the same pump price when the
\ninternational benchmark per barrel of crude was over $100. Now that the
\ninternational benchmark has dropped to $47.5 (USD) per barrel as at
\nMonday, we ask: where is the deregulation and the relief which it ought to
\nbring to local consumers of diesel?<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the Nigerian consumers, unfortunately the collapse of crude oil price
\nsince October 2014 has not translated into any change in diesel, kerosene
\nand PMS prices across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe challenge the federal government to reconcile the information on the
\nwebsite of the Petroleum Products Pricing and Regulatory Agency,
\nindicating the maximum open market price of diesel pay per litre in
\nDecember 2014 as being at N111.6 and the fact that the price has come down
\nto less than $50 (USD) as at Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to posit that that the maximum indicative benchmark open
\nconsumers of diesel should pay is at a margin below N100 per litre.
\nTherefore, Nigerians are being short-changed by about N50 to N70 on every
\nlitre of diesel sold by government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe implication of this is that with average consumption of about 12 to
\n15 million litres, Nigerians are currently extorted of amounts between
\nN600 Million to N1 Billion daily due to corruption-induced poor regulatory
\noversight of the Ministry of Petroleum Resources. No wonder some few
\nindustry players are smiling to the banks and buying private jets while
\nsmall scale industrialists who buy diesel on daily basis for power
\ngeneration and transportation find it difficult to break-even with their
\nbusinesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cSimilarly on Kerosene, information available on the website of the PPPRA
\nputs the Open Market Price at N114.71 per litre although the market price
\nis anything above N150 per litre when the global price for a barrel of
\ncrude oil was $65 (USD). Now that international price of crude is at $47.5
\n(USD) per barrel, why are Nigerians still buying kerosene per litre at the
\nsame price? Why are Nigerians not benefitting from the global shortfall in
\nthe prices of crude by having a cut in the pump prices of petroleum
\nproducts?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are aware that there are examples in other African countries where
\ngovernments have cut the pump prices of petroleum products to reflect the
\nchanges in the global oil market. Countries like South Africa, Zambia,
\nTanzania and Kenya have announced cuts in pump prices of petroleum
\nproducts, why can\u2019t the Nigerian government do same?<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the failure of government to do the right thing by announcing a cut
\nin the pump prices of these products, we are compelled to draw the
\nconclusion that the federal government is short-changing Nigerians
\nostensibly to fund the campaign of the PDP presidential candidate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe APC Presidential Campaign challenges the federal government to make
\nexplanations on why Nigerians cannot benefit pricing reliefs on petroleum
\nproducts as occasioned by the fall in the global price of crude oil.
\nAnything should of this is a fraud and Nigerians should take note.<\/p>\n
“As for PMS (petrol) the only product the government agrees as regulated
\nat N97 per litre, the irony is that it does not even cost much as in the
\nUnited States, a country that was importing oil from Nigeria until
\nrecently.<\/p>\n
“Moreover, even the current budget is still heavy on subsidy with an
\nallocation of N458.68 billion, a scheme that has become a conduit pipe
\nover the years for which the children of ruling party leaders have been
\nbeneficiaries.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council (APCPCC) has asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led Federal Government to stop stealing from Nigerians and allow them to enjoy the relief…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n