Reverse Petrol Price, Power Tariff Hike, Catholic Archbishops, NANS Warn Buhari

Senior Catholic Prelates have asked President Muhammadu Buhari to reverse the latest increment in the price of petrol and electricity.
The Archbishops, while condemning the increase in fuel price, said that it would cause more Nigerians to suffer.
They spoke during the First General Assembly of Abuja Archdiocese, held at Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Pro-Cathedral, yesterday.
It would be recalled that the Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) recently increased the ex-depot price of petrol from N138.62 to N151.56 per litre.
Consequently, petrol marketers jerked the price of the product from N148 to between N158 and N162 per litre.
Earlier, electricity distribution companies (DisCos) in the country began implementing a new cost-reflective electricity tariff plan effective, September 1.
Speaking, Archbishop Emeritus, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, lamented that the price increase did not come with a boost in the average income of citizens.
He said the government had previously assured Nigerians that it would make life better for them.
However, he added that the reverse is now the case.
“Mr President, in the same breath, was telling us he was going to do all he can to make life easier for Nigerians and one of the things he can do is those increases.
“Let the Federal Government put the fuel price increase and electricity tariff increase in a wider context. We wouldn’t complain about the fuel price increase if the salaries also increased.
“The problem comes when you leave the people with nothing to eat. I don’t think the government is supposed to be doing that. They should find a way to make life liveable for Nigerians,” Onaiyekan said.
Similarly, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja, Most Rev Ignatius Kaigama, asked President Buhari to give more attention to policies and programmes that would reduce poverty and hardship.
He said: “With the current economic crisis occasioned by the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a huge increase in poverty levels.
“So, we call on the government to give priority to alleviating poverty and improving life situations among Nigerians.
“I can only beg on behalf of the poor and the needy that government should have mercy on us. We are at the grassroots and I meet people who are really poor and in need and with all these increases, it makes life more intolerable.