A major petroleum marketer in Calabar, Cross River State capital, Joseph Okon Edem has said that the increase in petroleum product (fuel) cannot come down again, rather, it will go up to N200 per litre before December.
Speaking with our correspondent on Monday via phone, Edem lamented that the price of foodstuff and other items including transportation will continue to be on the rise as the increase in pump price of fuel was to meet up with the conditionality to obtain IMF loan.
“On the part of the petroleum product, fuel, the federal government had already reached an agreement with the IMF to obtain a loan from the World Bank and one of the conditions of obtaining the loan is to remove the subsidy completely, the federal government will not go back from it.
“As I am talking to you, there is a plan to increase fuel pump price again to N200 per litre and it will happen between now and December. They want the price to stabilize so that marketers can buy the product and sell at their prices, that is the free market and that is what they are trying to do,” he stated.
But for the electricity tariff, Edem explained that it’s wobbling, “The two weeks suspension is to enable federal government work on the minds of NLC//TUC with a view to getting their ways because it is also part of the conditionality to secure that loan since there are too much criticism on the China’s loan.
“IMF loan will give us leverage and the loan interest will not be harsh on us and we still have our sovereignty at the end of the day but that of China is another way of colonising us and recolonising Africa as we will not be able to pay.
“For Chinese loan, every technology is written in Chinese language and it will be impossible to transfer the technology. Turn around maintenance would be difficult because these things are written in Chinese language and with this we cannot learn but if it is in English we can read and understand
“With English language, you transfer the technology to our people but with Chinese’s language, we still have to call them after twenty years to come and do the maintenance, so we will perpetually be in bondage but with IMF loan everything is done in English,” Chief Edem said.
Speaking further, the marketer said that the federal government will not go back on fuel, come sun and come rain rather they will increase it to N200 per litre. The Labour will continually do what they want, labour is making their usual noise but if the time is favourable to them they will not come back to us.
“President Buhari has a political will to deregulate the downstream, he is the only person that can do it, if the President can do it we will enjoy it and the resources that came out of it would be used for other developmental purposes.”
(Daily Post)
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