Ben Ezechime, Enugu
A Human Rights group, Civil Rights Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN), has berated the Federal Government of Nigeria over the current instability in the price of petrol and its attendant suffering of the masses.
In a statement signed by its National President, Olu Omotayo, and made available to Journalists in Enugu, the organisation described the removal of fuel subsidy without accompanying palliative as evidence of leadership failure.
The rights group said that the president Bola Tinubu-led administration and the NNPC were gambling with the Nigerian masses.
The statement reads: “The problem associated with the continuous increase and fluctuating price of fuel in Nigeria, and the continuous devastating effect on the well being of Nigerians have shown clearly that the people in charge of administration and executing policies in this regard don’t actually know what they are doing but are gambling and using Nigerians as guinea pig to experiment a policy they never devised any meaningful way to execute.
“The upward review of the price of petrol to N620 per liter has caused a lot of hardship on the citizens.
“The NNPC is supposed to have a reservoir where they store the products when the price is very low so that even if there is a rise in price in the world market the products in the store will cushion that effect and the products price will still remain stable at N500, per liter. This clearly shows failure of leadership.”
CRRAN said it was no news that subsidy had been removed, “but how do a government now invest the money in a project that will help the masses to survive.”
“There must be the need to subsidise what will benefit the populace and enhance their welfare.
“It should be noted that in a society where 80% of the populace live in poverty the utmost aim of any responsible government is to reduce the poverty rate not even saving money,” it said.
The organisation said it was not only disgraceful and showed incompetency that 50 days after the removal of subsidy on fuel the government had not ploughed back the money into agriculture or any tangible areas that will benefit the masses.
According to the group: “To worsen the situation the government earmarked a whopping sum of N70 billion to a handful of people under the guise of legislating for the country when over 150 million Nigerians are in abject poverty.
“We, therefore, urge the government to take urgent drastic steps to immediately address this issue and alleviate the suffering of the masses.”
