By Gabriel Ewepu

ABUJA – AS Nigerians’ hope seems dashed by the skyrocketing pump price of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, also called petrol with recent development, a Civil Society Organization, CSO, Environmental Defenders Network, EDEN, Monday, lamented the incessant PMS pump price increase adversely affecting the lives and livelihoods of Nigerians, and demanded a reversal to the old price before the Tinubu-led administration came into existence.

This was one of the key demands by the Board of Trustees, BoT, of EDEN, as contained in a communique signed by its Chairman, Chima Williams, and Secretary, Philip Jakpor respectively after a four-day retreat and made available to Vanguard.

The CSO also pointed out that the flood disaster across the country is worrisome, particularly, the devastating flood that ravaged and inundated Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, which the organisation said it is an indication of failure by government agencies not heeding to warnings and predictions by relevant government agencies, which they demanded that Nigerians need to know about the status of the Dasin Hausa Dam which is conceived to address flooding caused by the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon, and also called on the state governments to account for the huge ecological funds they allegedly collected to the tune of N40 billion, which an estimated N300 billion has been allegedly collected by the state governments between 2017 and the present as ecological funds, and Nigerians still battle with blocked water channels, blocked canals, unavailable shelters to house flood-displaced persons, and hectares of arable farmlands inundated yearly, and “in 2024, we learnt about N39 billion from the Ecological Funds has been released to the 36 states of the federation and yet, there is nothing to suggest that those funds have been put to good use.”

The communique reads in part, “We have watched with trepidation the drama surrounding the increase in the pump price of fuel which has unleashed a chain of consequences on innocent and poor Nigerians and businesses. Our dismay is aggravated when we recall that the resolution of the minimum wage imbroglio between the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the federal government was hinged on an agreement that the minimum wage will remain at N70,000 (seventy thousand naira) for the average worker as the basis of not increasing the pump price of fuel by the government.

“The Presidency did not refute reports that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had told the NLC representatives that the N250,000 (two hundred and fifty thousand naira) minimum wage they were asking for will only be paid to workers if the pump price is increased.

“So we find it as a betrayal that while Government is yet to commence the payment of the agreed N70,000 (seventy thousand naira) minimum wage, the NNPC has hastily effected another fuel price hike. Nigerians are now buying fuel for between N1,000 and N1,500, a development which has unleashed another chain of increases of basic services such as transportation cost and food prices across board. The government has through this action showed that it is not ready to listen to Nigerians. Because of this, we join all well-meaning lovers of this country to demand an immediate reversal of the pump price of fuel to the pre-inauguration price.

“Anything short of this smacks of insensitivity to the genuine wishes of Nigerians to live and earn a decent income. It is also recipe for more protests across the country.”

The communique also demanded unconditional release of #EndBadGovernance protesters nationwide despite the N100 million bail condition was placed on 10 of the protesters last week by the Federal High Court in Abuja.

“#EndBadGovernance Protesters Clampdown: Nigerians are perfectly in order and within their rights to demand for good governance especially as they are daily regaled with reports of stealing of public funds and the ostentatious life style of government officials and politicians irrespective of their political affiliations.

“While poor suffering Nigerians are told to make sacrifices and tighten their belts further in our journey to Eldorado, they hear and read about humongous sums that another class of Nigerians fritter away through frivolous trips, projects that have no bearing on the citizenry and other forms of primitive acquisition of wealth.

“Nigerians are dying every day for lack of basic amenities and many more are losing hope and becoming suicidal as they contend with the consequences of the current administration’s policies the most devastating being the devaluation of the naira, introduction of divisive tariffs in the power sector, and the so-called removal of fuel subsidy and its reversal in recent weeks.

“The impact of these not well-thought policies have led to closure of businesses, hyperinflation, insecurity and hunger in the land. These issues were the trigger for the #EndBadGovernance protests which saw Nigerians across the federation take to the streets to express their frustrations peacefully for ten days from 1-10 August 2024.

“The protests were largely peaceful but rather than address the glaring issues that the protesters articulated through the media and other legitimate means, the government decided to sponsor counter protests, engage in witch hunt, intimidate and arrest the protesters, who are now characterized as terrorists and terror financiers.

“Disturbingly, the real terrorists troubling different parts of the country are yet to be officially designated as such as the Nigerian government continues to oscillate between characterising them terrorists and bandits.

“Even after their unlawful arrest and detention we find it very disturbing that the Federal High Court slammed a N10 million bail condition on each of 10 of the #EndBadGovernance detained protesters after the police kept them in detention for extended periods.

“We are demanding their unconditional and immediate release as their continued detention violates their right to peaceful assembly which is enshrined in Nigeria’s laws.

“We are also using this opportunity to demand that all state governments that have not fulfilled the peace processes contained in the #EndSARS report should execute them immediately, including compensation for victims of police brutality and the families of those who were extra judicially killed.

“Insecurity: During President Tinubu’s inaugural address at the Eagles Square in Abuja on Monday 29 May 2023, Nigerians were promised that the dire security situation in the country especially the terrorism in the north east would be addressed headlong. More than a year after that promise we are yet to notice any pro-active response to the insecurity menace ravaging the land.

“Instead, on a daily basis Nigerians are maimed and killed and their bodies desecrated by terrorists with no clear ideological leaning.

“The insecurity in the land is not restricted only to the north east where the Boko Haram and their compatriots hold sway or to the South east where so-called unknown government maim and kill unchallenged but also to other parts of the country where kidnapping for ransom and organ harvesting are now daily occurrences.

“We are disturbed that Nigerians who have been impoverished by the policies of government and forced to rely only on the roads for travel now feel apprehensive in using inter-state roads especially when their trips span into the evening hours.

“Not only has this development killed businesses that rely on travellers on the high way but also the abundant tourism potentials of the nation that has taken a big hit.

“We are using this medium to call on the current administration to go beyond equipping the police with the gadgets for modern policing to actually overhauling the nation’s security architecture with a strong leaning on the state police initiative, the agitation for which has unfortunately gone cold as state governor’s foot-drag in its push.

“We also advocate for the motivation of our policemen and women through trainings, enhanced salaries and insurance schemes that will not only cater for their immediate needs but also their wards in the case they pay the ultimate price in their service to the nation”, it added.