By Ejiro Nesisa
Worried by the constant rises in the prices of Premium Motor spirit otherwise known as fuel, the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights has frowned at the attitude of Petrolum Marketers who he said, exploit the public by selling the products at exorbitant prices, the action has led and still leads to the suffering of Nigerian masses.
In a chat with newsmen on Wednesday in his office in Warri, the Chairman of the Committee for the Defense of Human Rights, Delta State branch, Comrade Jonathan Giama, said if Nigerian National Corporation, (NNPC) sells the products at N600 and the Marketers sell for N950 and if one subtracts the cost of purchase which amounts N600 from N950, N350 is still left and that, if this is multiplied with over 33000 litres of the products, it would amount to millions of Naira. According to him, from the calculation, the Marketers are exploiting the public as they make huge profit at the expense of the general public.
The Human Rights Activist said, before now, NNPC used to fix prices of the products for Marketers to sell but these days, Marketers now sell at will as they are no more guided.
His words: “The Marketers are milking the public because they pay for the products more than necessary. At the time when things were normal, when NNPC sold for N100, the Marketers would sell for N120, adding with this, they still made profit of N20 saying that, with this, they still remained in business.”
According to him, at that time, Petroleum Tasks Force would go round filling stations to see that Marketers comply with the directives of NNPC. He said this was the time Nigerians enjoyed the petroleum products. He said today, the story has changed, Marketers are now allowed to exploit the masses at will, this, he condemned in strong terms. He said, because of the behaviour of the Marketers in this direction hence the Task Force ought to monitor them.
His words:” The Marketers are able to exploit the masses because they sell at any rate of their choice, no price control, by their attitude, they are ‘sucking the blood’ of the masses and until something is done, Nigerians would continue to suffer”.
He therefore charged the NNPC to fix prices for the Marketers to sell so to avoid the masses to be exploited just as he charged Petroleum Tasks Force to rise to the occasion to see that Marketers comply with the directives of NNPC to save Nigerians from the exploitive tendencies of the Marketers. According to him, the monitoring of the sales of the products should not be left in the hands of the Federal Government alone, the state and local governments should also wade in to see that the products are sold at the stipulated prices.
Comrade Jonathan Giama also reminded the Federal Government of the promises it made to Nigerians that the Port-Harcourt refinery will come on stream at the end of this month to alleviate the suffering of Nigerians.
The Human Rights Activist said, while this call becomes necessary is because of the suffering of Nigerians as the organization, saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that human rights are not infringed upon, would not continue to fold its arms and watch the people suffer just as he said should the Federal Government fail to act fast by doing the needful, they would mobilise Nigerians for protest. He therefore called on Federal Government to act fast in this direction.