OPC blasts FG, says subsidy removal wrongly-timed

The Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) has warned the Nigerian Government that the increase in the price of petrol and electricity would inflict hardship on ordinary citizens, stressing that the removal of the subsidy was wrongly timed.

OPC in a statement by its Publicity Secretary, Yinka Oguntimehin, described the hike as an attempt to push Nigerians to the wall, saying government was sitting on a time bomb.

The group asked the Nigerian Government to reverse its decision in order to make life easier for citizens or incur their wrath.

The statement reads, “No good citizen will be happy with the recent increase in the prices of petroleum products, electricity, as well as the DSTV tariffs. It is the worst decision ever made by a government that prides itself as the government of the people. With this increase, the FG is sitting on a time bomb, with no respect to the feelings and suffering of the people.

“At the tail end of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, fuel was sold for N87 per litre, but since the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government in 2015, the pump price of fuel had increased on three occasions with over 100 per cent. No government had ever done that. Therefore, the labour union and other civil society groups should rise to the occasion, by raising their voices against such insensitive decision, as they did during the Jonathan administration.

“We can hardly believe the reason behind the removal of the fuel subsidy. The timing was wrong and Nigerians are suffering under this administration.

“The recent hike in the prices of fuel and electricity is most unfortunate and it is capable of soiling the image of the Nigerian Government because they had tampered with the prices of such very important commodities that have direct impact on the economy and the lives of the people.”