Uncertainty over fuel price: Buhari has lost control, HURIWA says

The Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has condemned the climate of apprehension, anxiety, and uncertainty over the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) in the country.

In a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA said the uncertainty over the price of PMS suggests that the Federal Government lacks quality economic policy framers/advisers.

The rights group stated that it was inconceivable that the petroleum sector that President Muhammadu Buhari supervises could not provide clarity and certainty regarding the pump price of petrol.

It noted that it was regrettable that at a time most countries were introducing innovative replacements for petrol and diesel to protect the environment, Nigeria still operates with the mindset of the 18th century because of the gross incompetence of the political class.

HURIWA expressed disappointment that two agencies under the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, which are headed by President Buhari, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and the Petroleum Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA), were at each other’s throats over the exact pump price of petrol, adding that major dealers of the product have become lawless entrepreneurs who decide when to sell or hoard the product so they could maximise profit at the detriment of over 100 million poor Nigerians.