A PDP chieftain in Oyo State, Honourable Kazeem Olalekan Bello, has called on the Federal Government to immediately reverse the recently hiked prices of petrol and electricity tariff.
Speaking on a popular Radio Program, ‘The Interview’ with Adebisi Ogunjimi on Petals fm Ibadan, Hon. Bello, who is a member, Governing Council, Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igbo-ora, described the move as ill-timed and ill-motivated which will make life harder and unbearable for the majority of Nigerians.
Hon. Bello said the actions by Pipelines and Products Marketing Company, PPMC, and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC are “anti masses policy by an incompetent APC led administration”.
He said, “While Nigerians are still dealing with the negative effects of COVID 19 Pandemic which has made life tougher and harder for many people, rendering many jobless and finding it hard to have their daily meals, all the government could do is to increase fuel and electricity prices”.
“A responsible government should be concerned about easing the pains and burdens of her citizens and not adding more to it but unfortunately, reversed is the situation in our nation since the cost of a bag of rice, for instance, had skyrocketted to N28,000 from N8,500; a bag of maize to N21,000 from N3,000 and fertilizer to N12,000 from N2,500, Dollar exchange rate has risen to N480 from N195; ECA to $2.5bn from $72m; external debt to $27bn from $9.6bn.
While Crimes, insurgency and banditry; armed robbery and kidnappings; rampant rapes and sexual abuses, smuggling and corruption; poverty, hunger, and destitution; IDPs; unemployment and school dropouts have thus escalated to totally unacceptable proportions and now the order of the day.”
According to Bello, the position of the federal government demonstrates ‘the level of insincerity and Nigerians should take note of how APC led government by General Mohammadu Buhari deceived us.’
He however called for an immediate reversal of the increment in the best interest of the people and take as a priority, giving people succor in the hard times and tackling the insecurity in the nation.
Speaking on the state of the coalition in the state, Hon. Bello urged the people to discountenance reports of cracks within the government adding that Governor Seyi Makinde has done well in honoring the terms of agreement with the other parties.