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Fuel prices skyrockets
BARELY three
days after the latest increase in petroleum products, a litre of diesel at the
weekend went for between N60 and N100 in many filling stations in parts of the
country while the price of kerosine, the vital domestic cooking fuel, per litre,
now cost N55 per litre.
The development came as both the Senate
and the Group Managing Director (GMD), Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC),
Mr. Funso Kupolokun, appealed to Nigerians to be patient, show understanding and
embrace the deregulations option.
However, chief executives of the six major
marketing companies are to meet tomorrow to fashion out strategies to tackle the
challenges of full liberalisation even as NNPC announced the interest of a group
of multinational firms to invest $ billion in Nigeria’s domestic fuel market.
House of Representatives, on its part,
said it would soon meet to take a position on the recent hike in the prices of
petroleum products.
All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP)
condemned fuel price hike, advising President Olusegun Obasanjo and the People’s
Democratic Party (PDP) not to take Nigerians for a ride.
The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) meets
today over the latest fuel price hike and last Tuesday’s Federal High Court
judgement which occasioned the increase, outlawed strikes and declared the
office of NLC president, presently occupied by Mr. Adams Oshiomhole, statutorily
non-existent.
The NEC of the Congress of Free Trade
Unions (CPTU) meets tomorrow on the fuel price matter.
Also, NLC counsel, Mr. Femi Falana spoke
on the appeal by the Congress of the court judgement, saying papers will be
filed "any moment from now."
The court also approved of the
controversial N1.50k fuel tax.
As attention focused on the latest price
of petrol, now between N55 and N60 per litre, up from about N44, in filling
stations, a Daily Champion survey, weekend, showed that the prices of diesel and
kerosine had similarly shot up phenomenally.
Reports from fuel retail outlets in Lagos,
Abuja, Kano, Enugu, Port Harcourt and Maiduguri showed that the price of a litre
of diesel varies.
While it is about N60 in some outlets in
Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt, the product is virtually unavailable in many
stations in Kano and Maiduguri.
In one or two filling stations in the two
far Northern cities where the item is found, it goes for N100 a litre.
Kerosine is also scarce in parts of the
far North, but a litre in the listed southern cities, where the product is
relatively available it sells for between N52 and N55.
With the shock over the fuel price hike,
NLC’s NEC is expected today to take a decision on this and related issues.
Already, speaking weekend in Abeokuta,
Ogun State, Mr. Oshiomhole said a fresh strike cannot be ruled out.
Besides, the National Association of
Nigerian Students (NANS) has commenced mobilising students to protest the hike.
Dwelling on the NLC appeal of the Federal
High Court Judgement, Mr. Falana said he and legal luminary, Chief Gani
Fawehinmi (SAN), who are spearheading the Labour onslaught, are almost set.
Mr. Falana told the News Agency of Nigeria
(NAN) at the weekend in Lagos that "many issues which were not raised by the
parties involved were determined by the ruling."
Falana also decried the hike in the prices
of petroleum products by the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA).
He said that the court’s judgement did not
empower the government to raise the prices of petroleum products adding "the
price increase is illegal and unconstitutional."
Chairman of the senate Committee on dawn
stream, Senator Emmanuel Azu Agboti at a joint press briefing on the weekend
with his vice, Senator Abiola Ajumobi described the deregulation of the down
stream as the best for the country even as the Senators admitted that the policy
was going to be burdesome on the populace.
The Senate which challenged the government
to come up with palliative measure to cushion the effect of the increase in the
pump price of petroleum products told Nigerians to support the new order.
Insisting that deregulation was
inevitable, the senator however asked the government to commence immediate
prosecution of person or companies that had failed to rehabilitate the local
refineries after collecting money to do so.
Every body desires deregulation. But like
we have always been saying dregulation of the down stream sector is desirable.
"It has so many benefits even though there
may be some disadvantages. The advantage are far outweigh the disadvantages. So,
we an in full support of the deregulation," he said.
The Senator however asked the executive to
let the public know the cost structure of petroleum product.
The Senators who did not categorically
condemn the current pump price increase of petroleum products, however, asked
the government to proffer palliative to absorb the negative consequences of
deregulation.
"Deregulation to me Senator Ajumobi said,
is democratization of the oil industry and since we are all talking of
democracy, I think it is good for all and sundry to support it," he further
stated.
Speaking in the same vein, Mr. Kupolokun
urged Nigerians to be calm, saying; "I believe things will shape up in the near
future and Nigerians will be happier for it."
Kupolokun told the News Agency of
Nigeria (NAN) at the weekend in Abuja that the policy was the right thing to
do to get the oil sector out of the doldrums.
The GMD said there was no cause for alarm
as market forces and competition would push pump prices downward sooner or
later.
He said that deregulation was all about
opening up the oil sector to fair competition and that it would lead to economic
prosperity. "Now that the deregulation policy was being realised to the fullest,
more players will come in and downward pressure on pricing will push pump prices
down," he stressed.
On the recent increase of pump price,
Kupolokun said that the situation would soon stabilise in the interest of
consumers.
He warned that markets involved in
profiteering would face the wrath of the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR),
who would continue to monitor and enforce application of appropriate pricing at
the pumps.
Although he did not mention the
appropriate pricing of a litre of petrol, Kupolokun said that there was a
ceiling of which to marketer was expected to sell above.
He said that marketers were free to sell
below or at the appropriate prices.
Chairperson, House of Representatives
Committee on Information and Publicity, Hon. (Mrs) Abike Dabiri, said yesterday
that the House would discuss the matter as soon as it resumes on October 6.
Hon. Dabiri who spoke with Daily
Champion on telephone, said it was unfortunate that the hike was effected
when the House is on recess.
She said there was the need for the
leadership to reconcile divergent views on the hike before taking an official
position.
This measure, Hon. Dabiri stated, would
ensure that the House speaks with one voice on the development. Condemning the
fuel price hike in a statement entitled "One fuel hike, too many", signed
by the ANPP Acting National publicity secretary, Alhaji Ismaila Sani, the party
warned. "We therefore caution that the PDP should withdraw this senseless
increase, forthwith."
The ANPP insisted that it was not proper
for the ruling PDP to assume that the silence and resilience so far demonstrated
by Nigerians are signs of weakness.
"It is high time the PDP applied the
brakes. The PDP should not mistake the quiet in the polity for people’s
acquiescene or docility. It may well turn out to be the provisional calm before
the storm."
The opposition contended that the recent increase "lack
rhyme and reason and is accordingly unwarranted and unreasonable."
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