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The umbrella body of all registered political parties and political associations in Nigeria, the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) has said it has mobilised a coalition of civil society groups to join the country’s labour movements to protest against the recent hike in patrol pump price and electricity tariff.

In a statement signed by its Secretary General, Chief Willy Ezugwu said it has resolved, alongside a coalition of civil society organisations, to back the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) in the struggle for the reversal of the increments.

According to the statement, “it is high time we told the Nigerian government that we have ran out of patience after five years of experiments.

“The federal government is now taking the Nigerian people for a ride, cashing in on the long benefit of doubt given to President Muhammadu Buhari to bring about the change we all desired.

“First the government increased the fuel pump price to N145 per litre, and Nigerians were told that the government has deregulated the petroleum sector to allow the market forces to determine the price of patrol.

“Now, instead of allowing the market forces to determine the price of patrol, the government has been fixing the price of fuel for marketers.

“As if that was not bad enough, the federal government increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) and in the midst of the hardship resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, electricity tariff was also increased at a time Nigerians were demanding that the federal government should, as part of the pandemic palliative, give free electricity to citizens.

“There is no government in the world that is not subsidizing one sector or the other for its citizens. Most western countries are heavily subsidizing agriculture for their population. What is Nigerian government doing for the citizens?

“This additional suffering imposed on citizens must be fully resisted and CNPP and her civil society allies are mobilised to join the TUC and NLC and other well-meaning organisations to protest this extra economic injuries inflicted on Nigerians.

“We are shocked that instead of reducing the cost of running government in Nigeria. The federal government have continued to tax the ordinary people to maintain life of luxury by political office holders.

“It is unthinkable that the National Assembly would prefer foreign cars to locally made vehicles. How can the Nigerian economy grow when government officials prefer foreign rice and other foreign products to locally produced ones?

“This attempt to continue to milk the masses to pay for their insatiable appetite for foreign products must be resisted”, the CNPP said.