Nigeria: PDP condemns increment in fuel and electricity tariff by President Buhari

Nigeria's opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has condemned the increment in fuel and electricity tariff by President Mohammadu Buhari, saying the responsible government solved problems not to inflict pain and Invent justification for its own failures.

This contained in a quoted statement signed by Kola Ologbondiyan, National Publicity Secretary on Tuesday.

PDP To @MBuhari, Nigerians Can't Survive Your Fuel, Electricity Price HikeThe @OfficialPDPNig says there is no way our country men and women can survive the obnoxious hike in the cost of fuel and electricity, as currently imposed by the Buhari administration,... pic.twitter.com/yjyaxK1Sqm

— Official PDP Nigeria (@OfficialPDPNig) September 8, 2020

According to PDP, there is no way our countrymen and women can survive the obnoxious hike in the cost of fuel and electricity, as currently imposed by the Buhari administration, given the level of poverty the administration had already foisted on our nation.

The statement reads, "The party described the brazen attempt by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, to justify the excessive hike in the cost of fuel from N87 per liter under the PDP to N162 as well as electricity from N30.23 per kWh to over N66 kW/h, as yet another daring and intolerable affront to the Nigerian citizenry, who have summarily rejected the increases.

"Our party stands with Nigerians in insisting that there is no way our compatriots can survive an N162 per liter fuel price and an N66 per kW/h of electricity in a country which, in the last five years, ranked as the poverty capital of the world, with a frightening 23 percent unemployment rate; where over 90 million citizens live in abject poverty and many more living on less than N500 a day.

"Indeed, we find it very inconceivable that after the Federal Government, through the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, confirmed that 90 million Nigerians are living in poverty, it still went ahead to increase the cost of essential commodities that drive our economy.

"Nigerians are already in trepidation that the excruciating price increase is a sudden death sentence on many citizens, particularly those living below the poverty line, as they cannot survive under a worsened economic situation.

"Moreover, with an N30,000 federal monthly minimum wage, which represents an N1,000 (USD 2.1) daily wage, there is no way an average Nigerian can survive under the excessive fuel and electricity hike, with attendant increases in transportation and other operational costs, which will leave most citizens with nothing for food, medicines, house rents and other basic necessities of life.

"We remind President Buhari that this hike will worsen the scary situation in the last five years, where compatriots are resorting to suicide, slavery mission abroad as well as selling off their children as options."