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Chuks Okocha in Abuja    

The presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 general election, Mr. Peter Obi, has stated that the hike in the price of petrol has inflicted pains on Nigerians, stressing that it was “draconian” of President Bola Tinubu to allow an increase in the price of the all-important product, from the comfort of his annual vacation in the United Kingdom.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited last Wednesday, increased the price of petrol across its retail outlets in the country.

Obi, in his X post yesterday said his prayer was for Tinubu to act in the best interest of the citizens before returning to the country because many Nigerians were “living under unnecessarily precarious conditions”.

 “This is neither how an economy’s resources should be managed nor how a nation should be governed. In this new measure, there is neither sound economics nor necessary compassion.

“We are told that the NNPCL is now a limited liability company, regulated by agencies such as the NUPRC (Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission) and NMDPRA (Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority), yet there seems to be growing confusion about the roles and responsibilities of the NNPCL and these regulating bodies.

 “Interestingly, both the NNPCL and the regulatory agencies are supposed to be under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources, with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria serving as the substantive minister. Who, in this arrangement, is regulating who?

 “With the unprecedented but avoidable hardship that Nigerians are enduring, the responsibility for providing a full explanation, offering alternative options, and most importantly, reversing the sudden price hike falls squarely on the Honorable Minister of Petroleum Resources/President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 “To casually inflict such a draconian measure on the populace from the comfort of an annual vacation amounts to taking the people’s welfare lightly and for granted,” Obi explained.

Obi stressed that the development had aggravated the country’s economic crisis.