Fuel Hike: Nigeria Moving Towards Economic Golgotha – HURIWA

…Says, Nigerians will eat grass soon if…

The HUMAN RIGHTS WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (HURIWA), on Tuesday declared that with the latest outrageous hike in the pump price of fuel, Nigeria is steadily moving into economic Golgotha.

This was as it said that Nigerians will start eating grass as edible as a result of economic hardship if they do not publicly protest peacefully and demand immediate halt to the heartless incessant hike in price of petrol.

HURIWA while condemning the increase, described it as toxic, despicable and absolutely intolerable, stressing that unless and until Nigerians become active citizens and embrace the constitutional challenge by peacefully protesting on the streets of the nation’s cities and townships against these sets of harsh economic policies which offends a plethora of fundamental rights provisions enshrined in the Constitution of Nigeria, they may fall into unimaginable economic disaster.

The Rights group stressed that the plea by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu that Nigerians should exercise patient in the face of the avalanches of extremely toxic and painful economic policies of the government does not make any rational and believable sense because the consequences is that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians may die due to the economic problems being unleashed on the masses by the current administration.

It therefore urged Nigerians to rise up in unison and reject the attempts by President Tinubu to push them into consumption of grass just like irrational animals in the wild.

The price of petrol was on Tuesday increased to N617 per litre by the NNPCL.

A statement on Tuesday, July 18, 2023 by the National coordinator of HURIWA, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, accused President Ahmed Bola Tinubu of violating Section 15 (5) of the 1999 Constitution as amended which states; “The State shall abolish all corrupt practices and abuse of power”. And 16 (2) states that; “The State shall direct its policy towards ensuring: (a) the promotion of a planned and balanced economic development;

(b) That the material resources of the nation are harnessed and distributed as best as possible to serve the common good;

(c) That the economic system is not operated in such a manner as to permit the concentration of wealth or the means of production and exchange in the hands of few individuals or of a group;…”.

HURIWA said that a visit to an NNPC filling station in the Central Business District of Abuja, confirmed that the price of fuel price has been adjusted from N539 to N617 per litre. HURIWA asserted that the immediate reason could not be ascertained but, said that it was not unconnected to the recent projections by oil marketers that fuel price will hit N700 per litre soon.

It noted that besides media reports, the Nigeria Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NDMPRA) was yet to officially inform Nigerians about the unwarranted imposition of hardship.

HURIWA further said; “The silence of Nigerians in the face of cocktails of toxic and elitist economic measures by the newly inaugurated President Ahmed Bola Tinubu will inevitably lead the masses to ‘economic Golgotha’ meaning that the next best meals Nigerians will resort to so as to survive the devastating and excruciating absolute poverty is to eat grass like goats or cows”.

The rights group therefore condemned the President Tinubu-led administration for continuously inflicting economic hardships on Nigerians through many thoughtless and anti-poor policies whereas the salaries of public office holders have been reviewed upwards and the National Assembly has just been allocated N110 Billion as palliatives to cushion the effects of the withdrawal of fuel subsidy.

It further said; “Whereas over 130 million multi-dimensionally poor Nigerian households are abandoned to a cruel fate of constant upward reviews of the pump price of fuel which inevitably affects the costs of foodstuffs and leads to spiralling inflationary trends”.

HURIWA, while quoting official government reports, stated that the rise in inflation comes amid soaring food prices occasioned by the removal of subsidy on Premium Motor Spirit commonly known as petrol.