The Peoples Democratic Party on Thursday rejected the decision of the Federal Government to peg the new ex-depot price of fuel to N108 per litre.
The party insisted on a new pricing template which it said must accommodate a pump price of between N60 and N70 per liter.
This, it said, would better reflect the crash in the price of crude oil and petroleum products in the international market.
National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Mr Kola Ologbodiyan said this in a statement he signed and issued in Abuja.
The PDP described the N108 depot price as fraudulent and a far cry from the appropriate pump price template that should not exceed N70 given the prevailing situation in the international oil market.
He said, “The PDP notes that the N108 ex-depot price with a projected additional N9 per litre Expected Open Market price is therefore completely unacceptable to Nigerians.
“Moreover, the Federal Government has continued to shroud the indices and parameters it is using in determining domestic prices of petroleum products in secrecy. Such parameters obviously cannot be in tandem with the appropriate situation in the global industry.
“The PDP laments that the All Progressives Congress (APC)-led Federal Government has continued to shortchange unsuspecting Nigerians since the beginning of the year by refusing to end its corrupt interference and allow market forces to determine pump price of fuel to reflect current global prices.
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“Our party insists that the Federal Government has no reason to continue to fleece Nigerians particularly in the face of worsening economic crisis occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic which it had also failed to effectively handle.
“The PDP demands that the APC Federal Government should immediately reduce both the ex-depot and pump price as well as surrender the billions of naira accruable as overcharge from the inappropriate fuel pricing since the crash in crude oil price and channel the funds as palliatives to Nigerians.”
A response was still being awaited from the APC media team as the National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Mallam Lanre Issa-Onilu, had not respond to enquiries as at the time of filing this report.
