What Is The Federal Government Waiting For Before Reducing The Price Of Fuel?

What is the federal government waiting for before announcing a reduction in the price of petrol in Nigeria? The commodity has been selling for N97 per litre for a while now, with the government claiming to have been paying subsidies on the cost of landing it in the country.

We all know that petrol subsidy is a scam and a propaganda been fuelled by the elite in the country to further siphon crude oil cash and submerge the common man into further misery and abject poverty; anyway, this would be the story for another day.

Early 2012, the Nigeria Labour Congress went into strike contesting the decision of the federal government to raise the price of petrol to N120 per litre; however, after much threats and tension, the President of Nigeria used his veto power to coherce Nigerians into accepting to pay N97 for the commodity.

With the falling price of crude oil around the globe, the cost of landing petrol in Nigeria has dropped massively from a high of N140 per litre to N82 as at the time of filing this report. The price of crude oil which has maintained a high of $110 per barrel has equally dropped to $60 as well.

The question now, on the lips and minds of every normal citizen of this country is: what must Nigeria continue to pay N97 to buy a litre of petrol when the landing cost has dropped to N82 per litre? Why is the federal government acting mute about the whole saga? Where is the president of the country? Where is the finance minister, who has always defended the poor policing making and strategy of the elite? I make bold to assert here that Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala was sent by the IMF and World Bank to systematically distabilize, distort, and destroy the Nigerian economy; so far, their plans seem to very much in place.

But, come to think of it, would the federal government not have acted quickly without hesitation to increase the price of petrol if the reverse had been the case? Was there not a time in this country when the federal government wanted Nigerians to purchase the commodity for an international market price of N140 per litre?

When the naira was under great pressure from importers, and speculators heaped great pressure on the Central Bank of Nigeria, did the CBN not bow to pressure and further devalued the naira against the dollar? The shocking thing here is: ever since the devaluation, things have become even worse; just last week, the naira fell to a low of almost N195 to the dollar.

With the constant silence of the elite into the current situation in Nigeria, it further strengthens the position of the critics which opine that they are only after their interest and more importantly, making life unbearable for the common man.

It remains to be seen whether the federal government would reduce the price of petrol as they did few years ago when it was reduced from N70 to N65; however, let this be a clarion call to every citizen of Nigeria out there that we must all stand up and take destiny into our hands: let us make the federal government accountable to us the citizens and do the needful by reducing the price of petrol.

It will be a welcomed development if the price of petrol is reduced to N40 per litre with the insistence of the federal government claiming to be paying subsidies on the commodity.

Written by Avwenagha Edesiri,
A Political Analyst from the FCT,
Abuja.

http://talkafrica.co/ng/p/14382/what-is-stopping-the-federal-govt-from-reducing-the-price-of
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