Senior Catholic Prelates have asked the Federal Government to reverse the latest increment in the prices of petrol and electricity.....
The Archbishops, while condemning the increase in fuel price, said it would cause more Nigerians to suffer. They spoke during the First General Assembly of Abuja Archdiocese at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Pro-Cathedral, weekend. It would be recalled that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company, PPMC, recently increased the ex-depot price of petrol from N138.62 to N151.56 per litre. Consequently, petrol marketers jerked the price of the product from N148 to between N158 and N162 per litre. Earlier, electricity distribution companies, DISCOs, in the country had begun implementation of a new cost-reflective electricity tariff plan.
Reacting, Archbishop Emeritus, His Eminence John Cardinal Onaiyekan, lamented that the price increase did not come with a boost in the average income of citizens. He said the government had previously assured Nigerians that it would make life better for them, adding, however, that the reverse was now the case. He said: “Mr. President, in the same breath, was telling us he was going to do all he can to make life easier for Nigerians and one of the things he can do is those increases.
“Let the Federal Government put the fuel price increase and electricity tariff increase in a wider context. We wouldn’t complain about the fuel price increase if the salaries are also increased. “The problem comes when you leave the people with nothing to eat. I don’t think the government is supposed to be doing that. They should find a way to make life liveable for Nigerians.”
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