Reduce fuel price, APC tells FG

All Progressives Congress in Oyo
State has demanded from the
Federal Government, an immediate
reduction in the pump prices 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 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, lauded 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.

Time!