Ndubuisi Orji, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), yesterday, said its presidential candidate in the 2019 general elections , Abubakar Atiku, will reduce the prices of petroleum products, if he wins next year’s presidential election.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the opposition party said Atiku has already worked out a pricing template that will crash the pump price of fuel in the country, if he is elected president.
The PDP stated that its engagements with top international players in the oil and gas industry indicates that the appropriate pump price of fuel in the Nigerian market, under the current subsidy regimes, should be within the range of N87 to N90 per litre as against the N145 currently being charged.
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The opposition party accused President Muhammadu Buhari of being insensitive to the suffering of Nigerians, noting that the high cost of petroleum products in the country has further impoverished the citizens.
It alleged that for every N145 paid for a litre of fuel, there is a hidden N58 which Nigerians have continued to pay since the fuel price was increased from N87.
It 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 litre and watch Nigerians groan under the weight of high prices, while a cabal at the presidency loot the funds meant to subsidise the product.”
The PDP added: “Apart from failing to account for the over N1.4 trillion allegedly siphoned 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 litre of fuel on over 50 million daily domestic consumption estimated in the last three years.”