Featured Manufacturing

Small businesses will be hard hit, MAN warns

The acting Director-General, Manufacturing Association of Nigeria, Mr Ambrose Oruche, in an interview with one of our correspondents,  said the poor and small businesses that depended on the  PMS to power their generators would be hard hit.

He said it was important for the government to introduce measures to cushion the effect of the deregulation in the sector.

Oruche stated, “To reduce the impact, government should do more in ensuring power generation is big and distribution is efficient, and ensure that people get at least 20 hours of light in a day to reduce dependence on the PMS.

“Government should find a way of compensating the SMEs to stay in business through tax rebates or grants to remain in business and stay competitive.”

Nigerians are being taken for granted by this govt – NLC

But the Nigeria Labour Congress said by increasing the fuel pump  price  three times within three months,  the Federal Government was taking Nigerians for granted.

The NLC President,  Ayuba Wabba, said the union could  no longer guarantee industrial harmony in view of the development.

He said Nigerians and the NLC were shocked by the price increase,   “coming at a time when many Nigerians are passing through very peculiar and precarious times.

“It’s like Nigerians are being taken for a ride; the increase in price of petroleum is like adding salt to injury.

“The increase in price of petroleum has happened now more than three times in three months. Only yesterday (Tuesday), they hiked the tariff of electricity. To compound it,  they also reduced the interest rate on savings which affected mostly the poor and the vulnerable.

“While rejecting this in the strongest terms, I think Nigerian government is taking Nigerians for granted.”

The congress noted that the government had betrayed the trust of Nigerians and left them vulnerable to economic ravages.

I warned Nigerians – Fayose

A  former Ekiti State Governor, Mr Ayodele Fayose, tweeted that  the increase was ludicrous particularly coming at a time the whole world was busy finding solutions to the COVID-19 .

He stated “Just in case those who led the Save Nigeria protests across Nigeria during Peoples Democratic Party government of Dr Goodluck Jonathan are not aware,  I warned.”

On its part, the minority caucus in the House of Representatives condemned the increase in pump price of petrol.

The Minority Leader of the House, Ndidu Elumelu, in a statement  on Wednesday and titled, ‘Reps caucus demands halt in N151 fuel price increase,’ described the increment as unacceptable.

He warned that it would result in increase in the already high cost of consumer goods and services and worsen the current economic hardships being suffered by Nigerians.

A former President of the  Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, Malachy Ugwumadu, in a chat with one of our correspondents, said the price hike was ill-timed.

He said, “At a time when Nigerians are still reeling under the  weight and pains occasioned by COVID-19 pandemic, the time is certainly wrong. Coming on the heels of the hike in electricity tariff renders it both ill- timed and  insensitive.”

The Convener of  the Concerned Nigeria group, Deji Adeyanju,  said the price increase was  ill-advised and anti-people.

In an interview with The PUNCH, Adeyanju said, “The common man can hardly breathe.  Buhari now has his hands tightfisted on Nigerians. He wants to make sure that people can no longer survive.

“How do you explain a situation where the country is sinking and going down? The country practically relies on loans to fund its own budget and service its debt.”

It’s callous – PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party also rejected the  increase in the price of petrol as well as the hike in the electricity tariffs . The main opposition party described the increases as callous and unjustifiable.

This was contained in a statement titled ‘PDP rejects N151 fuel price, hike in electricity tariff…Says APC is punishing Nigerians,’  signed by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, in Abuja, on Wednesday.

While demanding  an immediate reversal of the prices to avert a national crisis, the party said,  “The increase will result in upsurge in costs of goods and services and worsen the biting hardship being faced by Nigerians, who are already impoverished and overburdened  by APC-imposed high cost of living in the last five years.”

In its response, the APC,  in a statement titled, “APC to PDP: cajole your cronies to  return stolen fuel subsidy loot,” signed by its Deputy National Publicity,  Yekini Nabena, dismissed the PDP as “shameless.”

It challenged the PDP to come clean of allegations of several years of the pillage of the nation’s resources under the guise of its corruption-tainted fuel subsidy regime.

A foremost economist and Managing Director of Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr Bismarck Rewane,  in an interview with The PUNCH noted that while the rise in global oil prices meant increased revenue from crude oil sales, it would also lead to an increase in the price of petroleum products.

Noting that people’s disposable incomes and productivity had not increased, he said petrol price hike would add more pressure to consumers.

“Until our refineries are fixed or when Dangote refinery comes on stream, the country will continue to have this challenge. Let us manage to minimise the increase in petrol price so that people won’t suffer,” he said.

The Chairman, Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr Adetunji Oyebanji, had said on Tuesday that the pump price of petrol should be significantly higher than N148 per litre.

Oyebanji, who spoke on CNBC Africa on Tuesday, said, “If you look at the template the PPPRA has been using in setting prices, you will find that if you just apply even the official exchange rate for the month of August, prices at the pump should be significantly higher that where there are today.”

 

Related posts

9mobile slashes roaming tarrif for customers on Hajj 2019

By Abisola THOMPSON

Council chair orders rescue of kidnapped child

Our Reporter

Pirates kidnap 10 oil tanker crew members in Nigerian waters

Our Reporter

AMCON debt: Ubah escapes arrest warrant, faces arraignment Oct 18  

Editor

LASEMA rescues 10 people from collapsed school building on Lagos Island

Editor

Dangote awarded Vanguard Personality of the Year

Our Reporter