Fuel Crisis: APC is kneeling on the neck of Nigerians – PDP

 COSMAS CHUKWU, ENUGU AND OBIORA IFOH, Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has cautioned the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration to note that its alleged culture of arrogance, impunity and criminal pillaging of the nation’s national resources is akin to kneeling on the necks of Nigerians.

The PDP warns that there is a limit to what the people can bear under an administration that remains unconcerned and insensitive to their plights.

In a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, the party asked, “Is it not an unpardonable dereliction of duty that while the nation is in turmoil and agonizing under a collapsed national grid, protracted fuel crisis, distressed aviation sector, plummeting currency, crippled production and commercial activities, President Muhammadu Buhari remains aloof and “absent” as always?

“The failure by President Buhari, who also doubles as the Minister of Petroleum Resources to take immediate action, other than the snobbish stance by his Presidency that “heavens will not fall” because of fuel scarcity amounts to daring Nigerians to do their worse.

“It is often said that when a government abdicates its responsibility to the citizens at whose pleasure it should serve, then that government is complicit in the suffering of its people and a beneficiary of their woes.

“Sadly today, thousands of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises; the drivers of the economy are folding up daily, industries are relocating to neighboring countries, universities are on strike, the aviation sector is on the brink of collapse, our Railway is tottering to a halt due to lack of diesel, police are threatening to go on strike, insecurity is on the rise due to the collapse of the informal economic sector, yet Mr. President had time to holiday in England!

“If President Buhari could personally communicate on issues that concern his fizzling party, the APC, while in England, it is inconceivable that he failed and neglected, as always, to attend to life discounting experiences and pains encountered by Nigerians daily by the thoughtless and inhumane policies of his government.

“President Buhari needs to be reminded of his duty to Nigerians, to in the least, show some empathy, competence and concern as our country rapidly drifts towards a looming precipice. The frustration in the country is already degenerating into a nationwide restiveness that may result to the breakdown of Law and Order if allowed to fester.

“With petrol now selling between N400 to N500 per liter, diesel at over N800 per liter, kerosine at over N750 and aviation fuel at N670 per liter, millions of businesses, employments and sources of livelihood have collapsed in both urban and rural areas resulting in acute hardship and widespread social tension across the country.

“Our Party fears that the situation is getting to a boiling point and can trigger a nationwide agitation that might be worse than the October 2020 EndSARS if not addressed immediately.

“President Buhari must take responsibility for the criminal racketeering in his government by APC leaders which has led to the crippling of the economy under his watch. He should stop abdicating his duties by sending his aides to issue wild claims, fake promises and noncommittal apologies on the abysmal failures of his administration.”

Meanwhile, For Enugu residents, it has been an accentuated broil on the energy front. Enugu and other parts of the South East zone pay the highest electricity tariff nationally thereby by negating the use of electric cookers for cooking.

The forests have been greatly depleted leading to scarcity and high cost of firewood; ditto for the bye product of firewood, that is charcoal.

Inactivity at the mines has also led to the dearth of coal for coal operated cookers.

Sawdust has also risen to an all time high making it near impossible for its users to afford buying and using them.

For some time, cooking gas that was formally avoided for its high inflammability, became the product of choice for its speed and high efficiency in cooking, and then it was affordable.

Today, the cost of 1kilogramme of gas sells around 600 to 900 naira per kilo, depending on your source and location, as against between 350 and 400 naira per kilo by the first quarter of last year.

This development drove people back in time to clean their hitherto abandoned kerosine stoves and put them to good use.

Around the first quarter of year, kerosine sold in Enugu between 225 and 250 naira per litre in the filling stations and among authorized peddlers while a litre sold at between 280 and 350 naira on the parallel market.

Now, the situation is very harrowing with kerosine selling at between 500 and 600 naira per litre at filling stations and at authorized peddling points while black marketers sell now between 600 and 800 naira per litre and is even said to worse in the rural areas.

The marketers complain of volatility of market prices in the light of the facts the products are procured with dollars, imported into the country as non of the refineries are working while other sources blame it on the heightened cost of crude globally as a result of developments on Russo-Ukranian axis.

But then consumers lament that instead of rejoicing at the crude price windfall, Nigerians are enjoying the flipside.

For Okoronta James, a restaurateur in Enugu, “this energy crisis has affected our business adversely that instead of making profits, we only manage to stay afloat This has affected the pricing of our products which has engendered in market drop and loss.It is an irony that when other oil producers are smiling to the banks,our country is living in sorrows and lamentation. There is really no place to hide” Okorota moaned.

The above is the shared anxiety and sentiments of most Enugu residents who like their governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, who turned 58 today, insist that #Enugu State Is In The Hands Of God.

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