APC accuses Nigerian govt of fraud, says price cut too meagre

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has accused the Federal Government of making a show out of deceit by its so-called fuel price reduction, saying a 10.3 per cent slash in the price of petrol (from 97 to 87 Naira) is a mere tokenism at a time the price of crude oil has crashed by about 60 per cent.

In a statement issued in Lagos on Monday by its National Publicity Secretary, Lai Mohammed, the party said the pump price of a litre of fuel should not be more than 70 Naira, meaning that at 87 Naira per litre, the government is forcing Nigerians to subsidize the massive corruption in the oil sector by 17 Naira for every litre of fuel.

”When crude oil was selling at 100 dollars per barrel, the landing cost of PMS without subsidy was 125 Naira per litre. Now that the oil price has crash to about 44 dollars per barrel, landing cost without subsidy is about 65 Naira per litre. The same goes for diesel which should not sell for more than 90 Naira per litre,” it said.

APC said while governments of countries which are not as economically endowed as Nigeria have reduced the pump price of fuel as far back as early January 2015, Nigeria that is the world’s sixth largest producer of oil is just announcing a price slash that is far below those countries.

It said the real reasons that the Nigerian government has delayed slashing the price of imported petroleum products following the crash in crude oil prices are the massive corruption in the oil sector and lack of political will on the part of the country’s leadership. ...PremiumTimes