The Edo Civil Society Organizations have taken to the streets of Benin City, the state capital, to protest against the recent increase in fuel pump prices across the country.
The demonstrators had trekked through several major streets in the state, bashing the fuel price increase and the high cost of governance in the country.
According to the protesters, the new National Assembly members were set to disburse large sums running into billions of Naira to improve their lives and working conditions while the impoverished citizens were left to feel the brunt of the new fuel regime.
Bearing placards with inscriptions that read “The Edo People Rejects N8,000 Palliatives, Hike In PMS & 70 Billions for Legislooters”, the demonstrators had showed their outrage on the current situation of things in the country
This protest is coming almost two months after President Bola Tinubu declared fuel subsidy gone. Petrol currently sells at between N600-N700 across the country.
The Federal Government has since argued that subsidy removal was all in the best interests of the country, but critics have insisted that the move has further plunged the nation into crisis.
In the wake of the fuel subsidy removal, the Federal Government suggested the paltry sum of N8,000 as palliative for Nigerians but after severe criticisms and backlash from the citizens, the government declared that the sum would be reviewed.
While the money is being reviewed, the federal government has called on its citizens to exercise patience, so it can easily work on alleviating the hardship that Tinubu’s spur of the moment decision had occasioned.
Recall however, that some state governments like Bayelsa state, have already commissioned vehicles to aid movement for its residents in these trying times.
