Buhari removes Kachikwu as NNPC GMD, appoints Baru

Maikanti Kacalla Baru

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday approved the appointment of Dr. Maikanti Kacalla Baru as the new Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.

The appointment was contained in a statement by the President’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina.

With the latest appointment, Baru replaced Dr. Ibe Kachikwu who has been doubling as the Minister of State, Petroleum Resources and GMD, NNPC.

Buhari also approved the composition of the Board of the NNPC as provided for under Section 1(2) of the corporation Act of 1997, as amended.

The new board has Kachikwu as its chairman, while the Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, is also a member.

Apart from Kachikwu, Baru and Kyari, other members of the board are the Permanent Secretary of the  Ministry of Finance; Dr. Thomas M.A John; Dr. Pius O. Akinyelure; Dr. Tajuddeen Umar; Mallam Mohammed Lawal, and Mallam Yusuf Lawal.

According to the statement,  Buhari urged the new board to ensure the successful delivery of the mandate of the NNPC, “and serve the nation by upholding the public trust placed on them in managing this critical national asset.”

Source: PunchNg

Breaking News: NLC call off strike

The Nigerian Labour Congress just announced the call off strike in which they embark on due to the new fuel pump price

Why Nigerians Should Accept Removal Of Subsidy On Petrol by JOHN UZIE

Kachikwu

There has been a lot of opposing reactions and protests against the decision by the Federal Government of Nigeria to deregulate petrol price and marketing. The Nigerian Labour Congress and the Trade Union Congress have declared an indefinite national strike for Wednesday this week should the Federal government refuse to reverse the deregulation policy. 

Here are some things Nigerians should be aware of in regards to the petrol price and marketing:

1. Over the years the four existing refineries have been performing poorly and unable to meet domestic supply of petrol, in order to meet the nation's need for petrol the Federal government has to import petrol, regular and long-term importation of petrol has contributed greatly in depleting the nation's foreign reserve and a weak and depressed naira.

2. The hope of getting new investors to build new refineries may be dashed if the deregulation policy on petrol is derailed by organized Labour and pressure groups. No credible investor would carry out massive financial investment in a business where profits would not be made.

3. Over the years the activities of unpatriotic Nigerians have compounded our woes making previous subsidy packages on petrol a huge waste, their activities include diversion of petrol products to neighboring countries, hoarding of products, refusal to sell at official price, and dubious claims for subsidy payments.

4. Nigerians would be able to buy petrol at a cheap rate when we have a stronger naira, this can be achieved when collectively work together to increase the number of products we export, import less, buying made in Nigeria products, use of local raw materials for manufacturing processes, eliminating money laundering, and patronizing Nigerian services.

5. Aborting the current decision on the deregulation of petrol price and marketing would only be postponing the evil day. The current state of foreign currency reserve at the Central Bank of Nigeria cannot support importation of subsidized petrol, we should expect recurrent fuel scarcity and cut throat petrol prices at the black market.

6. The argument and claim by a large number of Nigerians that as an oil producing nation, Nigerians should enjoy cheap petrol price. Those who hold this view should consider the huge financial investment put into crude oil production and refining of petroleum products.

Over the years successive Nigerian government has been unable to fully deregulate the price and marketing of petrol, once again we at that crossroad.

JOHN UZIE

Kwale, Delta State

Source: Olufamous.com

At ₦145/L price, Nigerians buy one of the cheapest Petrol in the world - Daramola Babalola

By Daramola Babalola

On the 12th of May, 2016 Nigerians woke up to the detestable reality that they will now have to pay ₦145 per litre for Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise called petrol representing over 40% increase from the previous pump price, ₦86.50 



While some are mobilizing for '#occupyNigeria season 2', labour unions in the country are currently planning to commence an indefinite nationwide strike action that will 'shutdown the economy' on Wednesday in a bid to protest the increase in fuel price.

5 things Kachikwu Told Reps Members during Today's Meeting

Ibe Kachikwu

There had been reports earlier today that some lawmakers on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) refused to allow the minister into the House for any explanations on the fuel subsidy removal, but some of their colleagues later prevailed over them. And when he was finally allowed into the premises to make his address, Kachikwu told members of the House of Representatives that they were left with no option than to increase the price of fuel.

Here are five major things he said during the meeting:

1. The diminished foreign exchange supply situation in Nigeria, which forced marketers to stop importation and imposed over 90 per cent supply on the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) since October 2015 is responsible for the subsidy removal.

2. Significant decline in government’s foreign exchange revenues and renewed sabotage and pipeline vandalism in the Niger Delta.

3. There was no provision for subsidy in the 2016 Appropriation Act and as at Monday, the fuel price of 86.50 gave an estimate subsidy claim of 13.7 Naira per litre, which translates to 16.4 billion Naira monthly.

 4. The new price band had gone into effect and the market had stabilised in terms of product availability.

5. NNPC will no longer resort to federation barrels and would endeavour to meet its obligation to pay FAAC 100 percent of its entitlement from the 445,000 barrels per day in the coming months.

Wahala At House Of Reps As Lawmakers Block Kachikwu, From Chamber

The scheduled appearance of Minister of State for Petroleum, Ibe Kachikwu, at the House of Representatives on Monday has left the lower chamber bitterly divided, as lawmakers bicker over whether the minister should be allowed to enter into the chamber or not.

Mr. Kachikwu was invited to brief lawmakers on the recent increase in the price of petrol.

But when Mr. Kachikwu arrived to honour the invitation, he was met with echoes of anger from lawmakers who started shouting “No! No! No!”

Shortly after noon, House Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, moved a motion to let Mr. Kachikwu in, but many lawmakers shouted him down. This prompted the Speaker of the House, Yakubu Dogara, to put the matter up for voice vote.


When Mr. Dogara asked if the lawmakers should allow Mr. Kachikwu to come him, majority of them thundered: “No! No!”

But Mr. Dogara said the “ayes” have it, nonetheless.

But the lawmakers refused to be intimidated, continuing with their chants.

After a few minutes into the commotion, the House demanded that journalists and other observers should excuse them, leaving only members in the plenary to continue what they described as “executive session.”

Why the lawmakers invited Mr. Kachikwu and still declined to give him audience to explain himself has left many in the chambers befuddled.

As at 1:00 p.m., the House has not reopened the plenary to reporters and Mr. Kachikwu’s whereabouts is unknown.

Premium Times

Fuel price hike: Presidency rolls out palliatives, to pay N5000 monthly to 1 million poor Nigerians

To cushion the harsh effect of the new pump price of Premium Motor Spirt, PMS also called petrol on the people, the presidency is set to implement the N500 billion earmarked in the 2016 budget for social welfare.

 A statement by the media spokesperson for Vice President Yemi Osinabjo, Mr. Laolu Akande in Abuja on Sunday stated “All together the federal government would be directly impacting the lives of more than 8 million Nigerians in different social investment 2016 budget spending that would provide succor and be a ready-made palliative to ordinary Nigerians.”

 Giving a breakdown of the interventions and palliatives, Akande said that said that there would “the direct payment of N5000 monthly to one million extremely poor Nigerians for 12 months as provided for in the 2016 budget for which N$68.7B has been appropriated.”

 Similarly, the government has also made available a “direct provision of very soft loan -cash for market women, men and traders, including artisans and Agric workers.

This would be for a total of 1.76m Nigerians, without the requirement for conventional collateral. Some of the traders will likely get about N60,000.

A total sum of N140.3B has already been appropriated for this in the budget”. The details also showed their there would be “payment of between N23,000 to N30,000 per month to 500,000 unemployed graduates who would be trained, paid and deployed to work as volunteer teachers, public health officers and extension service workers among other responsibilities.

They would also be given electronic devices to empower them technologically both for their assignments and beyond”.

According to the media aide, “100,000 artisans would also be trained and paid N191.5B has been set aside for this in the passed budget.” He also said that “At least 5.5 million Nigerian primary school children -ie starting first in 18 states-three per geopolitical zones-would be fed for 200 school days under the free Homegrown School Feeding Programme”, as “N93.1B has been appropriated for this in the 2016 budget.”

In this same vein “100,000 tertiary students in Science Technology Engineering & Maths-STEM, plus Education will partake in the N5.8B already provided for this education grant in the budget. Akande stated that “This payment would also be paid directly to the students.”

 He stated that these measures that would start in a matter of weeks would certainly lift the ordinary man from the pangs of economic hardship and poverty. “Long before now, the Presidency has made adequate arrangements in the 2016 budget to ensure that Nigerians are lifted from poverty and hardship,” Akande said, adding that “the Buhari presidency is keen to ensure that Nigerians are lifted and that if necessary on an ongoing basis palliatives measures would always been considered to address the conditions of the people.”

New Fuel Price: Current Protest and Upcoming Protest Revealed

NANS

 NANS body with over 40 million Nigerian students would re-enact the Occupy Nigeria protest against the removal of subsidy from petroleum product in Abuja next week

Ibadan Protest

Ibadan Residents protest yesterday (Friday) against Fuel subsidy Removal

The protest witnessed the heavy presence of market men and women who were in their hundreds, as they complained about the prices of food and the cost of living.

National Labour congress

NLC to embark on strike next week wednesday and set to Occupy Nigeria over removal of fuel subsidy



Others will be revealed later
#Pacesetter Omoluabi

Residence of Ibadan protest over fuel subsidy Removal (Photo)

Protesters

Action Front group on Friday, May 13 organized a protest against the government’s policy which triggered the increase of a litre of fuel from N87 to N145.

The protest witnessed the heavy presence of market men and women who were in their hundreds, as they complained about the prices of food and the cost of living.

The group led by its coordinator in Oyo state, Dr Demola Aremu started its march from University of Ibadan with a call on the federal government to reverse the decision in the interest of the Nigerian masses.

According to him, the present administration had only given Nigerians negative changes in salary payment, power, food prices, roads and “fraud in the increment of price of fuel.” “Any government that encourages petroleum product marketers to source for money from secondary market is unserious, fraudulent and irresponsible,” Dr Aremu opined.

 He described the petrol price increment as a direct attack on the Nigerian people, adding that the only achievement of the present administration is high inflation.

The protest witnessed the heavy presence of market men and women who were in their hundreds, as they complained about the prices of food and the cost of living.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/830112-fuel-subsidy-removal-protest-rocks-ibadan.html?source=notification

The protest witnessed the heavy presence of market men and women who were in their hundreds, as they complained about the prices of food and the cost of living.
Read more: https://www.naij.com/830112-fuel-subsidy-removal-protest-rocks-ibadan.html?source=notification

Goodluck Jonathan is the Founder of Niger Delta Avengers - Ex-Militants

GoodLuck Jonathan

The National Coalition of Niger Delta Ex-Agitators, NCNDE-A, has accused former President Goodluck Jonathan of founding the new militant group known as Niger Delta Avengers.

The group claimed that the Niger Delta Avengers was formed in January last year ahead of the March 2015 presidential election, which Jonathan eventually lost to Muhammadu Buhari of the APC.

The National President of NCNDE-A, Israel Akpodoro, who made this shocking revelation in Abuja on Friday, urged the former President to call members of the self-acclaimed Niger Delta Avengers, NDA, to order.

According to him, “the Niger Delta Avengers is a creation of the ex-president aimed at thwarting any efforts made by successive administration especially that of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC, administration.”

He further revealed that the threat was planed at a well-attended meeting called at the instance of a governor from the South South region in January last year with all the prominent ex-militants including Jonathan and some of his close pals in attendance.

14 Prominent Nigerians who Opposed Fuel Subsidy Removal in 2012 and their Stance in 2016

  

In January 2012, the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration made a decision to end fuel subsidy. A movement known as #OccupyNigeria was formed and thousands of Nigerians took to the streets to protest the government's decision. The #OccupyNigeria rally attracted popular oppositions from politicians [most of who are now in power], self-acclaimed human rights activists and celebrities.



After series of protests, the Jonathan administration caved in to the pressure and settled for a partial subsidy removal that brought the petrol price up to N97 from N65 a litre, instead of the initial N141 it would have been at, had the subsidy been totally removed.

On 12th May, 2016 the Muhammadu Buhari administration announced the removal of the subsidy for the sale of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) with immediate effect. So far, there has been no street protest just e-fights among Nigerians on Twitter, beatification of Goodluck Jonathan on Facebook and massive cheering from the majority of people who criticized fuel subsidy removal in 2012.

Below are the names of prominent Nigerians who Opposed Fuel Subsidy Removal in 2012 and their Stance in 2016 :

Muhammadu Buhari : Before he became President, he fiercely maintained that fuel subsidy ''does not exist'' but few days ago his government just removed a non-existent fuel.

Oby Ezekwesili : Former Education Minister Ezekwesili claims that 2016 is a better year to remove fuel subsidy than 2012 was. For her it's all about ''trust''.

Bola Tinubu : National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC believes that fuel subsidy removal in 2016 is a ''Necessary pain'' Nigerians have to endure.

Ibe Kachikwu : Even up until his Ministerial screening late last year, Nigeria's Minister of state for petroleum fiercely objected the removal of fuel subsidy. Today, he feels subsidy removal is important to ''sustain supply and reduce the suffering to get the product''.

Nasir El-Rufai : Kaduna state Governor. During the removal of fuel subsidy by the Jonathan administration, he protested saying it was about ''trust not economics'', today El-Rufai feels Nigerians should just stay ''calm and orderly''

Femi Falana : Human Rights activists and lawyer. He was part of the #OccupyNigeria protests. He has openly condemned the Buhari administration for removing fuel subsidy. He's yet to announce a date for fresh protest.

Tolu Ogunlesi : Award-winning journalist and aide to President Buhari openly opposed the removal of fuel subsidy in 2012. He even went as far as likening former President Jonathan to Boko haram, in an opinion piece Ogunlesi wrote, ''What’s the difference between Boko Haram and GEJ? Boko Haram at least claims responsibility. GEJ gets PPPRA to do so on his behalf''. Today, Ogunlesi supports the removal of fuel subsidy by his boss. Just like Ezekwesili, he says it was more about ''trust'' than ''economics''.

Dino Melaye : Senator Melaye opposed fuel subsidy removal in 2012 and is still opposing it today. The flamboyant Senator is threatening to ''lead the mother of all protests'' if the policy is not reversed.

Ikhide Ikheloa: Staunch critic of the Abacha regime and popular lawyer. He opposed fuel subsidy in 2012 and led mass protests to the World Bank in Washington DC. He regrets protesting against subsidy removal in 2012. He wrote, ''After making me dance in protest in 2012 before the World Bank and IMF in OPPOSITION, APC Scraps Petrol Subsidy! ''

Yemi Osinbajo : Vice President Yemi Osinbajo fiercely opposed subsidy removal in the past but today he's touring media houses to educate Nigerians on the ''cost implication of fuel subsidy removal''.

Ayo Sogunro : Popular Nigerian author Sogunro is one of those who regrets protesting against subsidy removal in 2012. in his latest opinion piece ''My Dear President Buhari, Shame On You'' the writer said ''As I have suspected for a while, the unsolicited trekking I undertook from Yaba to Ojota to protest the 2012 subsidy removal is now just an intensive workout session. President Buhari and his team of economic wanksters have taken a leaf from Jonathan and his team of economic wanksters. Worse, the new economists in town have outdone Jonathan’s ambitions of N141/l; they have pushed the price up to N145/l—in spite of Fashola’s touted logic on falling crude oil prices. ''

Funmi Iyanda : She was against the fuel subsidy removal in 2012 and while she has come out to express anger with the way the Buhari administration handled its own removal of feul subsidy, she has however excused her 2012 actions with, ''Yes l was against deregulation by a fantastically corrupt govt mismanaging resources at a time of high oil prices. ''


Tunde Bakare: Convener of Save Nigeria Group, SNG. Though he's yet to comment on the removal of subsidy which he strongly opposed in 2012, we know Bakare supports Buhari all the way. He has always said he will support Buhari in subsidy removal because ''the Save Nigeria Group did not mobilise the people of this country to the Gani Fawehinmi Park, Ojota, merely to protest the removal of the fuel subsidy but to challenge the corruption that defined the fuel subsidy regime.''

The Missing Actors: After participating in the well-publicized #OccupyNigeria in 2012, some key actors have gone silent in the face of subsidy removal in 2016. Are they secretly planning other protests or cowering in their glaring hypocrisy?

 Source: Nigerian Bulletin

THE FUEL PRICING DEBATE: OUR STORY - Vice Presient, Yemi Osinbajo

Yemi Osinbajo

Fellow Citizens: 

I have read the various observations about the fuel pricing regime and the attendant issues generated. All certainly have strong points.


The most important issue of course is how to shield the poor from the worst effects of the policy. I will hopefully address that in another note.

Permit me an explanation of the policy. First, the real issue is not a removal of subsidy. At $40 a barrel there isn't much of a subsidy to remove. 

In any event, the President is probably one of the most convinced pro-subsidy advocates. 

What happened is as follows: our local consumption of fuel is almost entirely imported. The NNPC exchanges crude from its joint venture share to provide about 50% of local fuel consumption. The remaining 50% is imported by major and independent marketers. 

These marketers up until three months ago sourced their foreign exchange from the Central Bank of Nigeria at the official rate. However, since late last year, independent marketers have brought in little or no fuel because they have been unable to get foreign exchange from the CBN. The CBN simply did not have enough. (In April, oil earnings dipped to $550 million. The amount required for fuel importation alone is about $225million!) . 

Meanwhile, NNPC tried to cover the 50% shortfall by dedicating more export crude for domestic consumption. Besides the short term depletion of the Federation Account, which is where the FG and States are paid from, and further cash-call debts pilling up, NNPC also lacked the capacity to distribute 100% of local consumption around the country. Previously, they were responsible for only about 50%. (Partly the reason for the lingering scarcity). 

We realised that we were left with only one option. This was to allow independent marketers and any Nigerian entity to source their own foreign exchange and import fuel. We expect that foreign exchange will be sourced at an average of about N285 to the dollar, (current interbank rate). They would then be restricted to selling at a price between N135 and N145 per litre. 

We expect that with competition, more private refineries, and NNPC refineries working at full capacity, prices will drop considerably. Our target is that by Q4 2018 we should be producing 70% of our fuel needs locally. At the moment even if all the refineries are working optimally they will produce just about 40% of our domestic fuel needs. 

You will notice that I have not mentioned other details of the PPRA cost template. I wanted to focus on the cost component largely responsible for the substantial rise, namely foreign exchange. This is therefore not a subsidy removal issue but a foreign exchange problem, in the face of dwindling earnings. 

Thank you all.

VICE PRESIDENT YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN
May 13, 2016

How new fuel price will create additional 200,000 jobs – FG reveals

The Federal Government says that the new price regime for the downstream petroleum sector is comprehensively designed to tackle the hardship faced by Nigerians and create additional 200,000 jobs in the country.

The information is contained in a bulletin issued by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Friday.


It said that the new price template would potentially create jobs through the envisaged new investments in refineries and retailing of crude oil products.

It stated that the new pricing template would also prevent potential loss of nearly 400,000 jobs in existing investments in the sector.

The bulletin explained that new framework would on the long run solve the recurrent fuel scarcity crisis by ensuring the availability of the products at all locations of the country.

It said the measure would also ensure the total elimination of hoarding, smuggling and diversion of the product while also stabilising price at the actual product price.

It stated that government, through the new price regime, would monitor the new price to ensure that citizens got a fair value for the products they purchased.

It said the new price would enable marketers to source their foreign exchange independent of the Central Bank of Nigeria and ensure adequate product supply in all locations of the country.

It explained that the measure would enable government to deliver on its statutory functions of power generation, security, provision of education and health.

The document explained that the new price regime would permanently eliminate subsidy payments and ensure the availability of funds for the full payment of monthly Federal Accounts Allocation Committee.

It will also provide additional funds for other palliatives and help in stabilising the economy by creating access to development loans.

NAN

5 reasons why we suffer fuel scarcity

Fuel scarcity is one problem that the Nigerian government has not been able to solve and it keeps recurring.

1. Not enough refineries: We don’t have enough refineries in Nigeria to satisfy the nation’s needs and the few we have are not performing optimally. There are four refineries – two in Port Harcourt, one in Kaduna and the other one in Warri. Nigeria’s gasoline consumption is roughly 35-50 million litres per day and the refineries in Nigeria don’t produce up to half of this so the country has to depend on fuel importation despite being one of Africa’s biggest oil exporters.

2. Pipeline vandalism: Pipelines have been repeatedly attacked by vandals and this most of the time affects the supply to consumers. The Nigerian National Petroleum Company said pipeline vandalism was one of its biggest headache in finding a lasting solution to the fuel crisis over the years.

3. Diversion of supplies: A significant volume is being diverted by corrupt officials to neighbouring countries such as Chad and Cameroon. Some marketers have been accused of diverting petrol supplies to areas where it is sold at very high prices. In some instances, they sell off the fuel allocated to them at the depot to independent marketers, who are willing to pay more because they sell above the regulated price.

4. Some people benefit from fuel crisis: Some people are actually making money for scarcity of fuel and they would do whatever it takes to make it continue

5. The wide gap between the official USD exchange rate and the parallel market rate in Nigeria: The CBN dollar rate is N197/USD while the black market rate hovers around N325/USD. Fuel is bought at the international market with US dollars and importers have to source for dollars themselves to buy petrol.

N145 petrol price: We’ll occupy Nigeria next week – NANS

National Association of Nigeria student (NANS), Thursday said the over 40 million Nigerian students would re-enact the Occupy Nigeria protest against the removal of subsidy from petroleum product next week. The National President of NANs, Comrade Tijani Shehu, stated this in Abuja, at a protest rally where the association called for the removal of the  Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu. He said NANS is already mobilizing Nigerias students to resist the new N145 per litre pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, otherwise called petrol.

According to him, “A directive has been issued to all tertiary institutions to shut down all campuses on Tuesday and Wednesday, next week.  After that, they will all converge on Abuja for a mass protest. ”On behalf of NANS and the whole 40.1 million Nigeria students, we condemn the new fuel price and by Tuesday or Wednesday, the whole Nigeria student would occupy Nigeria. So the Federal Government should look into this before NANS mobilize the entire Nigeria students to occupy Nigeria”.

#WatchOut

PRESS STATEMENT ON CURRENT FUEL ISSUES - 'Why petrol pump price was increased to N145 per litre

Kachikwu

Read and Share

We have just finished a meeting of various stakeholders presided over by His Excellency, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The meeting had in attendance the Leadership of the Senate, House of Representatives, Governors Forum, and Labour Unions (NLC, TUC, NUPENG, and PENGASSAN).

The meeting reviewed:

1. The current fuel scarcity and supply difficulties in the country

2. The exorbitant prices being paid by Nigerians for the product. These prices range on the average from N150 to N250 per litre currently.

3. The meeting also noted that the main reason for the current problem is the inability of importers of petroleum products to source foreign exchange at the official rate due to the massive decline of foreign exchange earnings by the federal government. As a result, private marketers have been unable to meet their approximate 50% portion of total national supply of PMS.

Following a detailed presentation by the Honorable Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, it has now become obvious that the only option and course of action open to the government is to take the following decisions:

1. In order to increase and stabilise the supply of the product, any Nigerian entity is now free to import the product, subject to existing quality specifications and other guidelines issued by Regulatory Agencies.

2. All Oil Marketers will be allowed to import PMS on the basis of FOREX procured from secondary sources, and accordingly PPPRA template will reflect this in the pricing of the product.

Pursuant to this, PPPRA has informed me that it will be announcing a new price band effective today.

We expect this new policy will lead to improved supply and competition, and eventually drive down pump prices, as we have experienced with diesel.

In addition, this will also lead to increased product availability and encourage investments in refineries and other parts of the downstream sector. It will also prevent diversion of petroleum products and set a stable environment for the downstream sector in Nigeria.

We share the pains of Nigerians but, as we have constantly said, the inherited difficulties of the past and the challenges of the current times imply that we must take difficult decisions on these sorts of critical national issues.

Along with this decision, the federal government has in the 2016 budget made unprecedented social protection provisions to cushion the current challenges.

We believe in the long term, that improved supply and competition will drive down prices.

The DPR and PPPRA have been mandated to ensure strict regulatory compliance including dealing decisively with anyone involved in hoarding petroleum products.


Thank you.
SIGNED
HONOURABLE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PETROLEUM RESOURCES

Fayose Reacts to the New fuel Price, Blast Buhari and Kachikwu

“When they were seeking for votes from Nigerians,

*** They promised to reduce petrol pump price from N87 to N45 per litre

*** They promised to create three million jobs per year,

*** They said $1 will be equal to N1 and above all

*** They promised to pay unemployed youths N5, 000 stipends

*** The also promise to provide one meal a day to pupils nationwide.

Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose has accused the Federal Government of Nigeria of insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians with the latest increase in the pump price of the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.

Fayose said the hike was a “DEMONSTRATION OF THE LEVEL OF HATRED THE PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI-LED ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) GOVERNMENT HAD FOR NIGERIANS.”

The Ekiti governor said he was waiting for the reaction of those who took to the streets to protest when fuel subsidy was removed by the Dr Goodluck Jonathan administration in 2012.

He urged labour unions in the country to stand by their members always, not minding the political party in government

Fayose in a statement on Wednesday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, said the latest hike in pump price of petrol was another vindication of of his predictions on what to expect in 2016.

The governor alleged that the scarcity of petrol being experienced in the last three months was deliberately orchestrated by the federal government to pave way for the already conceived increment.

He said: “Nigerians are now left at the mercy of political liars who took over power by deception and are governing by deceit.

“When they were seeking for votes from Nigerians, they promised to reduce petrol pump price to from N87 to N45 per litre, they promised to create three million jobs per year, they said $1 will be equal to N1 and above all, they promised to pay unemployed youths N5, 000 stipends and provide one meal a day to pupils nationwide.

“Instead of fulfilling their promises, they have increased petrol pump price to N145 per litre, increased electricity tariffs, retrenched thousands of workers and imposed untold hardships on Nigerians.

“As they did in 2012, if labour leaders do not also stand up for the people at this time, posterity will not forgive them.”

In addition: Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had earlier on Wednesday announced that effective from Wednesday, May 11, the new pump price would not be more than N145 per litre.

Just In: Government Removes Subsidy, Petrol to Sell For N145 per litre

The Federal Government of Nigeria has finally removed subsidy from the sale of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also known as petrol with immediate effect.

NNPC sources said "marketers are now free to bring in cargoes and sell, subject to meeting standard quality control"; However, a benchmark of N145 per litre, as a recommended pump price, at which a trader, irrespective of source of foreign exchange used to import is guaranteed adequate profit.

Black marketers selling for N150 to N250 per liter will disappear as there will now be petrol everywhere.