By Williams Amofokhai
The Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, has attacked President Bola Tinubu over further increase in the price of Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS).
He said no sensitive government would be happy to see its people suffer due to fuel hike.
Adams, in a statement on Thursday by his Special Assistant on Media, Kehinde Aderemi, said Nigerians knew how much they buy fuel before now, lamenting that the people were yet to survive the subsidy removal that led to the sudden increase in the price of fuel from N187 to N500 per litre before it was jerked up now to N617 per litre within two months.
“It is painful. No sensitive government would be happy when the citizens are suffering.
“It is imperative for me to speak up, especially, with what we are experiencing now in the country. It is unfortunate. This is not what we expect from a president that is coming from the South West region of the country,” he said.
According to Adams, as a product of this democratic struggle, a political activist and the father of the nation, Tinubu must know that the citizens were his children and that as a father, he must work on the best way to solve the problem of the children.
He said with the present situation in the country, three state governors had declared three workdays for civil servants in their respective states, adding that the national leadership of the College of Education Academic Staff Union had directed its members nationwide to attend their respective workplaces only two days a week.
“The new directive was premised on the recent price hike on fuel, and this has worsened the cost of transportation, food, and other essential commodities that has increased by over 300 per cent.
“All over the world, many things have been subsidised in the interest of the mass of the people. Power, health, food, and other necessities of life are being subsidised.
“Petrol is the main commodity that moves the economy. And now the same product is being sold for N617 per litre. It is unbearable. For instance, an ordinary Nigerian worker travelling from Mainland to Island on a weekly basis would spend 25 litres of fuel per day-that is over N15,000 naira.
“In a week, it is N75,000 per week, and in a month, it amounts to over N300,000 naira. That is too bad for Nigeria and Nigerians. Energy, including petrol, diesel, or gas needs to be subsidised because of productivity’s sake. No economy survives the high cost of energy,” he lamented.
