Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Monday, accused the “opportunistic” opposition of playing dirty politics with the increased electricity tariff and hiked pump price of fuel.
Mohammed, who made this allegation while addressing a press conference on Monday in Abuja, argued that subsidising petrol was no longer feasible owing to the prevailing economic conditions.
“THESE NAYSAYERS DID NOT COMPLAIN WHEN THE PRICE ADJUSTMENT LED TO LOWER PETROL PRICES ON AT LEAST TWO OCCASIONS SINCE MARCH”
He said Federal Government could no longer afford petrol subsidy because of the decline in the country’s foreign exchange earnings, which he claimed had fallen by almost 60 percent.
The minister said petrol price in Nigeria remained the lowest in West Africa with N162/ litre, adding that Ghana, Benin Republic and Togo sell petrol at N322, N359 and N300 per litre, respectively.
Mohammed said, “The opportunistic opposition and their allies are playing dirty politics with the issue of petrol pricing and electricity tariff. Please note that these naysayers did not complain when the price adjustment led to lower petrol prices on at least two occasions since March.
“Yet, the government has had to sustain expenditures, especially on salaries and capital projects.
“One of such difficult decisions, which we took at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March – when oil prices collapsed at the height of the global lockdown – was the deregulation of the prices of PMS.
“As I said earlier, the benefit of lower prices at that time was passed to consumers. Everyone welcomed the lower fuel price then. Again, the effect of deregulation is that PMS prices will change with changes in global oil prices.
“This means quite regrettably that as oil prices recover, there will be some increases in PMS prices. This is what has happened now.”
Mohammed also said the adjustment to the electricity tariff was to enable the industry to sustain itself.
Mohammed said, “The truth of the matter is that due to the problems with the largely-privatised electricity industry, the government has been supporting the industry.
“To keep the industry going, the government has so far spent almost 1.7 trillion naira, especially by way of supplementing tariffs shortfalls.
“The government does not have the resources to continue along this path. To borrow just to subsidise generation and distribution, which are both privatised, will be grossly irresponsible.”
He stressed that the government was not insensitive to the economic difficulties of the citizens, adding, “We certainly will not inflict hardship on our people.”
