Rivers motorists, IPMAN warn Tinubu against petrol subsidy removal

Kelechi Esogwa-Amadi

Amidst criticisms trailing Nigeria’s new president, Bola Tinubu’s plan to remove petrol subsidy, motorists in Port Harcourt and the leadership of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Rivers State chapter, have warned of dire consequences if the plan is implemented.

They have therefore called on the new president to rescind his decision to remove the subsidy to avoid subjecting Nigerians to intense suffering.

They spoke on Monday evening at the backdrop of the sudden increase in the price of petrol at the various filling stations across the state and country, allegedly heightened by Tinubu’s reaffirmation of his resolve to remove petrol subsidy, in his inaugural speech.

“This is another problem coming. We’ve not recovered from last December’s fuel increase and early this year, plus the naira scarcity. Now the they have increased fuel to N230 a litre.

Some are even selling N235 today and you can see that many people are at filling stations to buy fuel. Tinubu should tell them to make fuel available. This subsidy they want to remove will not work unless they want people to die,” Mfon Akpan, a commercial taxi driver who plies the NTA-Rumuola route, lamented.

TPCN’s checks on Monday revealed that many commercial vehicles drove empty, due to their inability to buy petrol in time and the refusal of some passengers to pay slightly hiked transport fares caused by the increase in fuel price.

A bus driver, Chiedu, explains in pidgin English: “No be our fault now; fuel no dey and when we call price, passengers dey complain say e too high. Dey no gree enter. No be our fault, na government. Now, all the filling station don increase price. The fuel we dey buy one litre N205 before, they’re now selling N230, N240 today (Monday). So, wetin passengers want make we do? Make them dey trek now.”

Meanwhile, the leaderships of three petroleum-related unions – National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas workers (NUPENG), Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (PENGASSAN) and Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) – are understood to be opposing the federal government’s plan to remove petrol subsidy, first proposed by the outgone Buhari administration and re-emphasised by the incumbent Tinubu administration.

Also, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) is not happy about the development.

An IPMAN leader in Rivers State, Joseph Obele, on Monday, called on Tinubu to suspend the planned removal of fuel subsidy. He said the current petrol scarcity and drop in NNPC’s supply have been attributed to Tinubu’s insistence on removal of subsidy, adding that importers of the product may have stopped importing. The IPMAN leader said:

“In the spirit of joy of inauguration, IPMAN will join NUPENG and PENGASSAN to call on our president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to suspend the fuel subsidy removal. Recall that in most of his campaign messages, he didn’t mince words by stating that he was going to remove fuel subsidy. Some stakeholders have attributed the current supply gap of fuel scarcity to the statement because it was perceived that importers have suspended importation until further refutal is made by him.

“Basically, there is a supply gap nationwide. Supply by NNPC regarding quantity demanded by marketers has dropped by 60%.”

At the time of doing this report, President Bola Tinubu has not responded to the demands of the people pertaining the planned petroleum subsidy removal. Tinubu had, in his inaugural speech, stated:

“We commend the decision of the outgoing administration in phasing out the petrol subsidy regime which has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor. Subsidy can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources.

“We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.”