Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, a civil rights advocacy group, has asked President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to return the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, also known as cooking gas, to where it was when he took office in May 2015.
HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, confirmed this in an interview with newsmen on Saturday.
Nigerians, according to Onwubiko, have nothing to rejoice about because of the recent marginal drop in the cost of cooking gas.
The price of 12.5kg LPG has dropped from N8,800 to between N8,400 and N8200, according findings.
As of Thursday, the commodity’s price had dropped to between N7,800 and N8,000 in some outlets.
Within the first ten months of 2021, the price of 12.5kg had risen by 240 percent, from N3,000 to N10,200.
Some LPG users were forced to switch to charcoal or firewood as a result of the situation, as consumers expressed concern about the commodity’s continued price hike.
Dayo Adeshina, Programme Manager, National LPG Expansion Implementation Plan, Office of the Vice President, stated that the Federal Government was taking steps to reduce the cost of cooking gas even further.
The HURIWA coordinator, however, told said on Saturday that the marginal reduction in the price of cooking gas (less than N1,000) is not significant.
“The failure of relevant governmental bodies to regulate the pricing of gas assets in Nigeria is a recipe for encouraging the ballooning poverty situations that we have witnessed since 2015, when President Muhammadu Buhari has operated economic policy frameworks devoid of progressive mechanisms,” Onwubiko said.
“Government lacks the requisite political will, sincerity of purpose and commitments to do the needful to ensure that millions of homes in Nigeria are not subjected to economic ordeals just so they can get gas to power the preparations of their foods and other essential services domestically and otherwise.
“High costs of gas has led to the closure of many restaurants and small businesses thereby increasing unemployment rates in Nigeria. The high cost of gas has affected the green environment and this shows that this government is hypocritical when it mouths her readiness to take remedial steps to halt the consequences of climate change.
“All those international trips costing the taxpayers billions of naira by the President and retinue of ministers to attend climate change-related global summits without taking local steps to check unaffordable costs of gas resources in Nigeria is cosmetic and hypocritical.”
When asked whether it would be better for Buhari to return the price of cooking gas to what it was in 2015, Onwubiko said, “Yes, but this government is unrepentantly incompetent.”
“The government derives satisfaction in imposing outrageous and satanic economic policies on Nigerians. This is even why the government has decided to tax us more for drinking soft drinks even when wives of politically exposed officials buy champagnes and expensive wines at public costs for their own enjoyment in their cocoons,” he added.
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