By Adeyemi Adeleye
A SUPPORT group of former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the Nigeria Youth For Atiku (NYFA), has called on President Bola Tinubu to take steps towards reversing the recent hike in the pump price of petrol.
The Director of Public Relations of NYFA, Mr Dare Dada, made this call in a statement on Saturday in Lagos.
Dada said the reversal had become imperative owing to the challenges many Nigerians were facing as a result of the problems in the economy.
The spokesman added that the call was part of the resolutions reached at the group’s emergency meeting held on Friday in Lagos.
According to him, having critically reviewed the state of the nation, NYFA has come to the conclusion that anything that could increase hardship should not come at this time.
Admonishing the President to take a break off some policies, Dada said: “The group examined the recent increase in the price of Premium Medium Spirit (PMS) and its multiplier effects on the citizens.
“We concluded that if the government continue the trajectory, many Nigerians may end up in a distress situation regardless of the income they earn.
“Any hike in the price of an essential commodity as PMS will affect the prices of commodities in the market”, he said also noting that all advanced countries subsidise the cost of living for their citizens either directly or indirectly and that the country can do the same.
He said that there was always a take-back stage in such countries by way of tax refund, tax holiday and child support.
The spokesman said that the government’s commitment should be cushioning the effects of hardship and not implementing policies that could increase it.
He said that government should not make policy decisions by impulse. “Policies being churned out require critical analysis, testing and feedback before execution. We need to be proactive and approach issues with apt and absolute consciousness,” Dada said.
According to him, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently increased interest rate to 27.25 per cent and that has compelled commercial banks to lend to businesses and individuals at over 31 per cent.
Dada, who said that no business would thrive under such situation, noted that businesses would thrive only when the interest rate remained low.
Dada, who noted that some government’s policies had continued to discourage borrowing, said that the present administration needed to rethink its approach to governance.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) had on Wednesday announced an increase in the price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) to N1,030 per litre at its various outlets. (NAN)
