Gani Adams, the Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, has criticised the increase in the cost of Premium Motor Spirit, also known as gasoline.
Adams claims that the increase in fuel prices is making life challenging for Nigerians and that the issue is becoming worse.
Adams stated that Nigerians can no longer take the pain they are going through and urged President Bola Tinubu to act quickly to address the related effects of the subsidy removal.
In a statement signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, Adams said that such a sharp rise in petrol prices had never occurred in the history of Nigeria.
He asserts that there is no other nation in the globe like Nigeria (a significant oil producer), where the populace is wailing in agony over an insensitive rise in fuel costs.
“We are aware of our previous fuel purchases. Nigeria has yet to recover from the loss of subsidies that caused the price of fuel to spike from N187 to N500 per litre to N617 per litre in less than two months. It causes agony. No compassionate government would be content if its people were in pain.
“Given what we are going through in the country right now, I feel compelled to speak up. It is regrettable. This is not what we anticipate from a president who hails from the country’s South West.
“President Bola Tinubu must understand that the people are his children because he is a survivor of this democratic battle, a political activist, and the father of the country. Therefore, a father must consider the best solution to the child problem.
“Three state governors have mandated a three-day workweek for civil servants in their respective states due to the current political climate in the nation. The College of Education Academic Staff Union’s national leadership has instructed its members to visit their individual workplaces only two days a week.
“The new decision was based on the recent surge in fuel prices, which worsened the cost of transportation, food, and other necessities that have climbed by almost 300 percent.
“Many items have been subsidised over the world in the interest of the majority of the population. Subsidies are provided for things like food, health care, and other basics of life.
“The primary good that drives the economy is petroleum. And now, a litre of the identical product costs N617. It’s intolerable. For instance, a weekly trip between the Mainland and the Island by a typical Nigerian worker would cost about N15,000 in fuel, or 25 gallons.
“In a month, it comes to more than N300,000 naira, or N75,000 each week. For Nigeria and Nigerians, that is unfortunate. Gas, diesel, and other forms of energy must be supported for the sake of productivity. No economy can endure today’s high energy prices.
“Food security is a concept that states that it is the duty of every government to subsidise food. Energy security occurs when the government provides subsidies for energy.
“Governments all across the world are subsidising energy to increase production. It is tragic that individuals are currently losing their jobs, more businesses are failing, businesses are going out of business, and tensions are rising across the nation.
“Hyperinflation is beginning, and it just reveals the current administration’s callousness.
President Tinubu must turn back in order to save the country from this misery since Nigeria has an informal economy and PMS is its primary source of energy, according to Gani Adams.
