The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Thursday
rejected the federal government fixed ex-depot price of fuel at N108 litre,
insisting on a new pricing template that must accommodate a pump price of
between N60 and N70 per litre to reflect the crash in the price of crude oil
and petroleum products in the international market.
The party described the N108 ex-depot price as
untenable and a far cry from the appropriate pump price template that should
not exceed N70 given the prevailing situation at the international oil market.
The PDP in a statement issued by its National
Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan,
said the N108 ex-depot price with a projected additional N9 per litre expected
open market price is therefore completely unacceptable to Nigerians.
Moreover, it said the federal government has
continued to shroud the indices and parameters it is using in determining
domestic prices of petroleum products in secrecy, adding that such parameters
obviously cannot be in tandem with the appropriate situation in the global
industry.
The PDP lamented that the All Progressives Congress
(APC)-led federal government has continued to shortchange unsuspecting
Nigerians since the beginning of the year by refusing to end its corrupt
interferences and allow market forces to determine pump price of fuel to
reflect current global prices.
According to the PDP, "Our party insists that
the federal government has no reason to continue to fleece Nigerians
particularly in the face of worsening economic crisis occasioned by the
COVID-19 pandemic which it had also failed to effectively handle."
The party, therefore, demanded that the APC-led federal
government should immediately reduce both the ex-depot and pump price as well
as surrender the billions of naira accruable as overcharge from the
inappropriate fuel pricing since the crash in crude oil price and channel the
funds as palliatives to Nigerians.
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