Buhari Should Return Cooking Gas Price To How He Met It In 2015 — HURIWA

Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, a civil rights advocacy group, has petitioned President Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) to restore the price of liquefied petroleum gas, also known as cooking gas, to where it was when he took office in May 2015.

HURIWA’s National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko, revealed this in an interview with The PUNCH on Saturday.

Nigerians, according to Onwubiko, have nothing to rejoice about because of the recent minor decline in the cost of cooking gas.

The price of 12.5kg LPG has reduced from N8,800 to between N8400 and N8200, according to PUNCH research. As of Thursday, the commodity’s price has decreased to between N7,800 and N8,000 at several retailers.

Within the first ten months of 2021, the price of 12.5kg had risen by 240 percent, from N3,000 to N10,200.

Some LPG users were compelled to switch to charcoal or firewood as a result of the situation, as consumers expressed concern over the commodity’s continued price climb.

Dayo Adeshina, the Program Manager, National LPG Expansion Implementation Plan, Office of the Vice President, said the Federal Government was taking steps to lower the cost of cooking gas even more.

The HURIWA coordinator, however, told our correspondent on Saturday that the slight reduction in the price of cooking gas (less than N1,000) is not significant.

Onwubiko said, “The failure of the relevant governmental bodies to regulate the pricing of gas assets in Nigeria is a recipe for encouraging the ballooning poverty situations that we have witnessed since 2015 that President Muhammadu Buhari has operated economic policy frameworks devoid of progressive mechanisms.

“Government lacks the requisite political will, sincerity of purpose and commitments to do the needful to ensure that millions of homes in Nigeria are not subjected to economic ordeals just so they can get gas to power the preparations of their foods and other essential services domestically and otherwise.

“High costs of gas has led to the closure of many restaurants and small businesses thereby increasing unemployment rates in Nigeria. The high cost of gas has affected the green environment and this shows that this government is hypocritical when it mouths her readiness to take remedial steps to halt the consequences of climate change.

“All those international trips costing the taxpayers billions of naira by the President and retinue of ministers to attend climate change-related global summits without taking local steps to check unaffordable costs of gas resources in Nigeria is cosmetic and hypocritical.”

When asked whether it would be better for Buhari to return the price of cooking gas to what it was in 2015, Onwubiko said, “Yes, but this government is unrepentantly incompetent.”

“The government derives satisfaction in imposing outrageous and satanic economic policies on Nigerians. This is even why the government has decided to tax us more for drinking soft drinks even when wives of politically exposed officials buy champagnes and expensive wines at public costs for their own enjoyment in their cocoons,” he added.