We increased price of petrol because Nigeria is broke – FG

The Federal Government has said that it increased the pump price of petrol because the country is broke.

According to the government, it needed to raise money to keep the system afloat, adding that Nigeria’s foreign earnings had drastically waned in recent times that the only way out of the financial quagmire was to look inwards to generate more money.

This was stated on Wednesday by the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed while briefing the State House Correspondents alongside his colleagues, the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami and Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola and Labour Minister, Dr. Chris Ngigie at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting.

The meeting was chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mohammed said: “The current problem is not really about subsidy removal. It is about that Nigeria is broke. Pure and simple!

Read also: Strike: NLC hits the streets without TUC, others (Photos)

“It is like somebody who has been earning N100,000 a month and he is faced with a situation where his employer says henceforth you will be earning N10,000 a month. He would need to make some very painful decisions and some very painful adjustments. That is the situation with Nigeria today.

“A few months ago, we were earning as much as $100 for every barrel of crude. In the months of February and March, we were short of…so, we no longer have the resources, the foreign exchange to bring in refined fuel products. And our economy is shrinking.

“We appreciate the fact that the decision is going to affect everybody. We appreciate what we are going through, but Nigerians should also know that the government has the responsibility at times to take very difficult decisions. So, it is not always about popularity.”

Also speaking at the briefing, the Minister of Labour, Chris Ngige, denied allegations that the government was encouraging labour factionalism by negotiating with both Ayuba Wabba and Joe Ajaero led factions at separate meetings to forestall the planned strike.

According to Ngige, the door was still open for talks with the federal government.

“We are ready ‎to discuss with anybody even civil society groups. We as government will not ‎encourage factionalism, if for anything we are unifying them by ‎bringing them together to talk about issues that concern their unions ‎and Nigerians. We have a right to talk to whoever we want‎.

“We will open our doors to them for negotiations when they come back” Ngige said.

The Minister also revealed that FG has agreed to reconstituted the Board of Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) which was one of the demands of the NLC.

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