By Harry Awurumibe, Editor, Abuja Bureau
The opposition Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has picked holes in Thursday’s announcement by the federal government of the introduction of a 30-day discount on petrol through the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC filling stations.
The party in a press statement signed by Osa Director, Esq, National Publicity Secretary NDC described the minimal discount as a tokenism and a Greek gift from a government that whimsically removed fuel subsidy without proper consideration, consultation, or cushions for Nigerians.
The statement read: “The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has noted the breaking news by the Federal Government announcing a 30-day discount on petrol through NNPC stations.
According to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, _”We are offering a discount on petrol dispensed by NNPC Limited for the next 30 days in the first instance, with priority for public transporters nationwide. So, it’s not a subsidy. The government is just saying we sell to you at cost.”_
This is nothing but tokenism and a Greek gift from a government that whimsically removed fuel subsidy without proper consideration, consultation, or cushions for Nigerians.
Nigerians cannot be deceived.
What happens to the millions of Nigerians who lost their jobs and whose businesses collapsed as a result of the callous and poorly planned removal of subsidy? What about those who lost their lives in poorly equipped government hospitals that have now become mortuaries?
It is clear that President Bola Tinubu and the APC government are desperate, and Nigerians must not be deceived. Emilokanomics has failed woefully.
The attempt to reintroduce petrol subsidy through the backdoor is not only mischievous but a sign of a government in free fall, ready to clutch at anything to survive.
Even the bogus promise to dispense discounted fuel at designated NNPC retail outlets is not pragmatic. How many such outlets exist in Nigeria to serve over 200 million Nigerians?
Is this not the recipe for another stampede that could have many more Nigerians trampled to death at the filling stations?
Several questions beg for answers, but the only answer staring Nigerians in the face is that the economy is in a tailspin and at a tipping point. The APC has shown itself glaringly incapable of rescuing the country from imminent collapse.
But hope is on the way.
His Excellency Peter Obi, under the NDC, will put Nigeria back on the right track. A New Nigeria is POssible with Obi.
In a few months, specifically on 16th January, 2027, Nigerians should come out en masse and vote for Peter Obi and all other NDC candidates to vote out the most clueless and rudderless government in the history of Nigeria”.
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