A chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Oyo State, Honourable Olalekan Bello has condemned the recent hike in electricity tariff and pump price of petrol in Nigeria.
The member of the Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igbo Ora’s Governing Council, in a statement signed by his media aide, Ayoade Elegbede, described the development as ill-timed and ill-motivated, adding that it will make life harder and unbearable for the majority of Nigerians.
Hon Bello said the actions by Pipelines and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) are “anti masses policies.”
He added that the decisions by Federal Government are misguided and uncalled for at a particular time when the international community is busily cushioning the effect of COVID-19 on its citizens, urging the FG to revert both decisions with immediate effect.
Bello said: “While Nigerians are still dealing with the negative effects of COVID-19 pandemic which has made life tougher and harder for many people and rendered many jobless while making it hard for people to have their daily meals, all the government could do is to increase in fuel and electricity prices respectively.
“A responsible government should be concerned about easing the pains and burdens of her citizens and not by adding more to it.
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“Unfortunately, the reverse is the situation in our nation since the cost of a bag of rice, for instance, had skyrocketed to N28,000 from N8,500; a bag of maize to N21,000 from N3,000 and fertilizer to N12,000 from N2,500, Dollar exchange rate has risen to N480 from N195; ECA to $2.5bn from $72m; external debt to $27bn from $9.6bn.
“While crimes, insurgency and banditry, armed robbery and kidnappings, rampant cases of rape and sexual abuse, smuggling and corruption, poverty, hunger and destitution, IDPs, unemployment and school dropouts have thus escalated to totally unacceptable proportions,” Bello added.
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