A group, ‘PMB’s Oil And Gas Progress ‘, has condemned a planned protest slated for Tuesday against NNPC.
The group in a statement released on Monday evening by its national coordinator, Shehu Magaji, said the protest was uncalled for, needless and a total distraction meant to put the country in avoidable chaos.
The group noted that the protest is sponsored by some faceless saboteurs who claim they love President Muhammadu Buhari but want to put the national economy in jeopardy.
The group wondered why the faceless sponsors of the protest would claim to love President Buhari but dislike the NNPC and its sister agencies who are doing everything humanly possible to ensure there is an adequate supply of PMS and at a price that’s affordable to Nigerians as well as the marketers.
“We call on security agencies, especially the DSS and the Nigeria Police Force to ensure the protest does not hold as hoodlums and conflict entrepreneurs can leverage the chaos the protest will trigger to unleash violence on the country and thus put the nation’s economy in great danger.
The statement also noted that the protesters and their sponsors ‘people looking for cheap attention’, should hold MONAN and IPMAN responsible for the current price of PMS as the government of President Buhari has done everything possible to ‘fix’ a reasonable price for the distributors and marketers to distribute the product without despite the excruciating burden imposed on the government by the huge cost of fuel subsidy.
The group warned the protesters to desist from blackmailing the NNPC as it cannot give what it does not have.
For those who erroneously think the NNPC has not rendered a penny to the federation account since January, the group said the truth of the matter is that the money is being shared to all Nigerians as the Government has chosen to subsidize petrol for Nigerians.
“Crude oil price has moved from less than $20 per barrel during the peak of COVID-19 to over $110 per barrel, but the price of petrol in Nigeria has remained at N165 per litre instead of around N424 per litre or more as crude oil prices keep going up.
This huge subsidy, the group noted, only happens in Nigeria. “Check all our neighbouring countries, Europe and other continents, the price of petrol is at its highest except in Nigeria.”
The group said Nigerians must be grateful to the government of President Buhari in this regard, “otherwise we could have been buying petrol above N450 per litre, and you should know what it means to ordinary Nigerians. After all these subsidies, it will be unbelievable to say something will remain for remittance to the government.