A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Wednesday, put the carpet on the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, for saying that he will not buy petrol at N300 per liter because other countries are selling their products at prices are more than in Nigeria and N300 is nothing when compared or changed to the United States dollar and the British pound sterling.
The National Coordinator of HURIWA, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in a statement said Sylva’s comments are crudely insensitive to the plight of Nigerians, who, for months, have suffered the unavailability and high cost per liter of Premium Motor Spirit known as gasoline.
The group also said that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, which Sylva serves, has failed to fulfill his campaign promise to revive the country’s refineries, as promised in his manifesto in 2015 when he contested for office under the false mantra ” Change”.
Sylva has, in a presentation on Friday, in Abuja, said N300 per liter is not too high for petrol, adding “if you convert N300 to other currencies, you will understand.”
Commenting, Onwubiko of HURIWA said, “The statement of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Silva is insensitive and does not respect the sensibilities of Nigerians, because when President Muhammadu Buhari has been the senior minister of Petroleum for eight years, he has failed miserably to revive the moribund refineries in Nigeria, which was promised in the manifesto in 2015 before the election.
“It is confusing that despite the fact that the four government refineries in the country do not produce a single drop of refined petrol, they still sip N100bn annually for rehabilitation and maintenance, according to the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited.
“It is still a wonder of the century how the government will make a ghostly statement about keeping the refinery non-functional for eight years.
“Apart from the refinery rehabilitation shenanigans, the same Buhari administration has spent billions in imported refined petrol while stifling local businesses with various taxes and a harsh economic climate. The so-called petrol subsidy has also been shrouded in secrecy as not many Nigerians know who is importing it and how to pay the subsidy.
“According to reports, the Buhari regime has spent over N16.9tn on the importation of no less than 132.24 billion liters of petrol, yet Nigerians cannot be said to have consumed half of the imported commodity since May 2015.
“The daily fuel consumption of 60 million has been the subject of an ongoing debate as the figure has been questioned as inflation to allow the purloining cartel subsidies to continue their illegal business.
“It is a shame that even though there is officially a dispensing price for fuel in Nigeria, motorists are being manipulated into buying at a higher pump price and here is an insensitive, rude and disrespectful minister.
“HURIWA is calling on Nigerians to elect a qualified President on February 25 to effectively investigate the epic theft of crude oil and the diversion of huge profits from the sale of crude oil by the government.”