…Backs Reps On Destroyed Vessels With Stolen Crude Oil Investigation
Conference Of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has reacted to the hike in pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, saying that the increment less than two months after “the Federal Government announced the removal of subsidy is a fresh pointer that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government has never been sincere with Nigerians on the subsidy issue.”
The CNPP also backed the House of Representatives on the lawmakers’ move “to investigate the overnight destruction of vessel with stolen Nigerian crude oil recently without investigation or prosecution of the culprits.”
In a statement signed by its Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Comrade James Ezema, the CNPP noted that “the Nigerian oil industry is permeated with a lot of corrupt practices that require open investigations if there must be an end to the suffering of Nigerians as a result of petroleum resources freely given to the country by God.”
“For many years, the free gift of nature has been a source of pain and suffering for the citizens that many have been asking whether crude oil deposits in Nigeria are meant to worsen the living conditions of the masses or not.
“In the last eight years, Nigerians have been subjected to misery as a result of incessant increment in the pump price of petrol.
“The CNPP recalls that sometime in May 2016, the then APC-led federal government had announced the removal of subsidy on petrol which prepared the ground for Nigerians to pay N145 per litre effective May 11, 2016.
“The then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and Group Managing Director of the defunct Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had on December 15, 2015 revealed that the federal government had concluded plans to remove the subsidy on fuel by the following year, which the then administration eventually implemented on May 11, 2016.
“According to an article published on the website of the Nigerian Content Development & Monitoring Board, Ibe Kachikwu said at the time that “The recent removal of subsidy from the pump price of premium motor spirit is saving the Federal Government over N1.4 trillion that would have been expended on subsidy claims per annum.” (see https://ncdmb.gov.ng/fg-saving-n1-4-trillion-per-annum-from-subsidy-kachikwu/).
“Even after the said removal of subsidy on petrol, the Muhammadu Buhari administration continued to increase the pump price of petrol at will under the guise of fuel subsidy removal without adequate cushioning palliatives, leading to untold hardships Nigerians have continued to endure.
“Again, the APC government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Monday 29 May, 2023 scrapped the already removed subsidy announced by the Buhari administration in 2016. This, again, came with attendant food prices hikes.
“The continued increment of the pump price of petrol without any attempt to build refineries for local refining of petroleum products is unacceptable by Nigerians and a further evidence of insincerity on the part of the federal government, particularly the so called messianic APC administrations.
“President Tinubu should deal with the corruption in the NNPC Limited if he is ready to clean up the oil industry as the years of turnaround maintenance of local refineries have lead to billions of dollars wasted on such fruitless venture due to corruption.
“The continued cover up for oil thieves, as can be perceived in the case of the recent destruction of vessel with stolen crude oil, must be stopped.
“For this reason, the CNPP stands with the House of Representatives on their resolve to investigate destruction of the vessel arrested with stolen crude oil by the NNPC Limited and other collaborators.
“Like the House of Representatives noted, if such act is allowed to continue, it will further increase pollution problems in the Niger Delta and no oil thieve will be successfully prosecuted in Nigeria”, the statement said.