Fuel Prices: Atiku Hits Tinubu Over Hardship

Posted by African Examiner Featured, Latest Headlines, News Across Nigeria Thursday, October 10th, 2024

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has slammed President Bola Tinubu for being undisturbed by the hardship his policies including the removal of petrol subsidy has inflicted upon Nigerians.

In an X post on Thursday, Atiku, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), labelled Tinubu as “T-Pain” for drowning the well-being of Nigerians.

“The haphazard and disingenuous approach of the current administration to fuel subsidy management has been the reason we are in this current economic crisis in the country.

“As things stand, there will be no let up in the escalating inflation rate, which is drowning the material well-being of Nigerians. It is even more worrying that T-pain is undisturbed by the hardship in the country,” Atiku wrote.

Nigerians woke up to another shocker on Wednesday morning when the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) retail outlets adjusted the pump price of petrol in Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

In Lagos, our correspondent observed that many NNPCL outlets sold a litre of the essential commodity for ₦998, about ₦150 higher than the initial price of ₦855. The sudden increase set motorists and transporters in panic-buying mode as snake-like queues have besieged filling stations.

Many filling stations not owned by the NNPCL immediately followed suit as they also incrementally adjusted their pump prices, with many selling as high as ₦1050 in many parts of Lagos.

In Abuja, the situation was not anyway different as NNPCL retail outlets hiked the price of the essential commodity from ₦897 to ₦1,030.

The fresh increase followed the September 2, 2024 increase by the NNPCL. The retail company had hiked the price per litre of petrol from ₦568 to ₦855, sparking outrage.

Though there has not been any official statement from the NNPCL on the latest increase in petrol prices, the NNPCL hinted at a fresh price increase when it began loading its first batch of petrol from the Dangote Refinery in mid-September.