Fuel crisis: Buhari, APC wrecking Nigerian economy – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the inability of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Ministry of Petroleum Resources to find viable solution to the incessant fuel crisis in the country has wrecked the nation’s economy.

Long Queque at Total Fuel Station beside Total Village along Aba Road in Port Harcourt weekend. Photo: Nwankpa Chijioke

This is just as the party chided the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu over his proposals to trade away the nation’s resources to other interests under sneaky subsidy deals.

The party in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, also expressed sadness that President Buhari had refused to heed wise counsel from Nigerians to quit as Minister of Petroleum Resources and allow competent hands to effectively manage the sector, adding that his aloofness has left the nation with no hope of any way out of the current fuel crisis and its attendant hardship on Nigerian citizens.

“It is now clear to all that President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) government is bent at wrecking the nation. Instead of abating, the situation is getting worse under the APC administration, which on December 6, 2017 promised to end the fuel crisis within one week.

“What is more frightening is the atrocious proposals by the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu which amounts to trading away the nation’s resources to the mercy and vagaries of international interests through questionable subsidy plans that is completely against national interest.

“This same Minister who denied that there are plans to increase the price of fuel is also plotting an indirect hike through a wicked price modulation plan where the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC will be allowed to continue to sell at N145 per liter in its few mega stations across the country while the independent marketers should be allowed to sell at whatever price that is profitable to them in all their outlets,” the statement read in part.

According to the PDP, “it is now clear to all that the APC government is only being perfidious with our oil sector, particularly in its promise not to increase fuel prices. We all know that there are very few NNPC stations and that most of such stations will not even have the products. What this means is that after ruining the system, the APC administration is now contemplating handing Nigerians over to unspeakable whims of independent marketers, while attempting to cover shady subsidy regime through which billions of naira could be frittered away daily under their watch.

“This proposal will leave our economy, which is already weakened by the incompetent and corrupt APC government, in complete comatose and result in more hardship on the already impoverished Nigerians.

“With the poor purchasing power of the naira, also due to bad polices of the APC government, any additional anti-people policy will ultimately spell doom for our dear nation.

“Nigerians are now aware that the same government that boasts of zero tolerance for corruption has been engaged in unspeakable grafts, including unabated siphoning of our national resources through underhand subsidy deals, direct diversion of public funds in various sectors and depletion of our foreign financial instruments, and this must stop.”