The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has assured Nigerians that its Presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, will reduce the pump price of petroleum products if elected President in 2019.
PDP disclosed that Abubakar has “worked out a pricing template that will immediately crash the pump price of fuel in the country,” since the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC, administration, “in its insensitivity, has failed to do the needful in the last three years.”
In a statement Thursday by its spokesperson, Kola Ologbondiyan, PDP rejected the Buhari-led Federal Government’s “increase of the official prices of diesel and kerosene,” stressing that such will bring more “economic pressure on the already impoverished nation, as most businesses and homes across the country heavily depend on these products for sustenance.”
The opposition party revealed that Abubakar has been in, “high level talks with top international players in the oil and gas industry,” adding that “its engagements have shown that the appropriate pump price of fuel in the Nigerian market, under the current subsidy regimes of the Buhari Presidency, should be within the borders of N87 to N90 per litre as against the N145 currently being charged.”
PDP said with the “current price template of crude oil in the international market, the Buhari administration has no justification to keep the pump price of fuel at N145 per liter and watch Nigerians groan under the weight of high prices, while a cabal at the presidency loot the funds meant to subsidize the product.
“We note that for every N145 paid for a liter of fuel, the Presidency cabal diverts a hidden N58 which Nigerians have continued to pay since the fuel price was increased from N87 to presumably subsidized cost of N145.
“Apart from failing to account for the over N1.4 trillion allegedly syphoned through sleazy oil subsidy deals, the Buhari-led Federal Government is burdened to account for the over N3.49 trillion stolen under the hidden N58 per liter of fuel on over 50 million daily domestic consumption estimated in the last three years.
“We note that had the Buhari administration heed wise counsel to be transparent in its dealings in governance and to engage more experienced hands on petroleum issues, the nation would not have been in the dire straits we face today.
The party, however, urged Nigerians not to despair as Abubakar, “has already worked out a blueprint that will end sleazes, ensure appropriate pricing template and free resources to guarantee availability of product on a national pricing regime.”
