Edo state today witness influx of protestant disrupting brainstorming the FederalhHigh way over fuel scarcity and high price of fuel currently trending in the country.
The road protest interrupted economic and social activities and paralysed peoples businesses in Benin City, Edo State capital as hundreds of residents on Thursday morning stormed the streets of the ancient city, protesting the Federal Government’s removal of fuel subsidy.
The placards carrying protesters who are marching through major streets have called on the federal government to immediately reverse the pump price to N210 till July 2023.
They insisted that if petrol subsidy should be removed, the government should fix the four Nigerian refineries to start refining petrol for domestic consumption.
Some of the he placards read: “We can’t buy petrol at N520 but N210”. “Petrol must beN210 till July Ended”.
SaharaReporters had reported that President Bola Tinubu on Monday during his inaugural speech after he took oath of office as the 16th president of Nigeria, at Eagle Square, Abuja declared that there would be no more subsidy on petrol otherwise known as premium motor spirit (PMS).
Hours after the speech, long queues returned to filling stations across the country amid fuel scarcity occasioned by panic buying and hoarding of fuel by dealers.
It had been reported that on Wednesday, that few hours to the proposed meeting of organised labour with Government representatives, that Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL) released a list of adjusted pump prices for its mega stations across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
According to the released price list, the new pump price for premium motor spirit (PMS), ranges from N488 in Lagos State to N557 per litre in Yobe and Borno states, while it is N537 in Abuja and Enugu N520.
Reacting to the new pricing template, the President of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joe Ajero, opposed it declaring that Nigerians would not accept any manipulations of any kind from any of the parties especially from the representatives of the Government.
He warned that Nigerians would not accept the removal of the subsidy without proper discussion and modalities on how to cushion the effect of the removal on the working class and poor Nigerians who bears the brunt