A coalition of civil society groups on Friday vowed to mobilise Nigerians to the streets if the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN) increased fuel pump price to N700 per litre.
The coalition, which comprises all civil society organisations nationwide, stated that the planned increment of fuel pump price from government-approved N538 per litre to N700 was pure mischief and sabotage against Nigerians.
The coalition, in a joint statement issued by its conveners, Dr Basil Yelwa Musa, Malam Haruna Maigida, the co-convener, and Ayo Temi Adebayo, among others, noted that it would mobilise its members and other stakeholders across the 36 states of the federation to embark on a protest beginning on Monday, July 3, 2023.
The statement reads in part:
“If government derelicts in cautioning the IPMAN, we see it as a deliberate collusion to drive Nigerians into unmitigated difficulties, and as CSOs, we will not sit and watch that happen. We will mobilise Nigerians for a street protest, and that should be taken from us.
“We watch the removal of the fuel subsidy regime by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his inaugural address on May 29, 2023, and we take the dire consequences as part of the sacrifice awaiting when the government would have settled to come up with ameliorative measures for the citizens,
“But IPMAN’s decision to adjust fuel pump price will stoke protests because it isn’t in the interest of Nigerians.”
They argued that if the proposed increase in pump price is actualised, it will amount to over 451% above what Tinubu’s administration met.
They advised the oil marketers association to brace for a change as sharp practices in the downstream sector can no longer be condoned.
