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Fuel price increase: SERAP heads to court! *Tinubu stripping Nigerians of decent living
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has made good its threat to fight President Bola Tinubu if he failed to reverse the recent increase of the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), otherwise known as petrol, by reverting to the old regime of N617 instead of the current price of N890.
Though it has taken more than 48 hours they gave as initial deadline for the President to take the action or face trouble, the group has finally gone to court against him for “failure to direct the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) to reverse the apparently unlawful increase in the pump price of petrol, and to probe the allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the NNPCL.”
Sued alongside the President, in the matter tagged: suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1361/2024, filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP are Lateef Fagbemi, Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice (AGF-MoJ), Mele Kyari, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (GMD-CEO) and NNPCL.
Specifically, SERAP is asking the court to compel President Tinubu to direct the NNPCL to reverse the unjust, illegal, unconstitutional and unreasonable increase in the price of petrol from N845 per litre to N600 per litre and to compel him to direct Fagbemi, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to probe the allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the NNPC.
Such allegations, included the spending of the reported $300 million ‘bailout funds’ collected from the Federal Government in August 2024, and the $6 billion debt it owes suppliers, despite allegedly failing to remit oil revenues to the treasury.”
The suit is also asking the court to compel the President Tinubu to also direct the AGF-MoJ and appropriate anticorruption agencies to prosecute anyone suspected to be responsible for the alleged corruption and mismanagement in the NNPCL, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, and to recover any proceeds of corruption.”
In instituting the action, SERAP arguied that: “The increase in petrol price is causing immense hardship to those less well-off. As the economic situation in Nigeria deteriorates, the increase is pushing people further into poverty. Holding the NNPC to account for alleged corruption and mismanagement in the oil sector would serve legitimate public interests.”
Filed by Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa, SAN, part of the suit also read: “The increase in petrol price constitutes a fundamental breach of constitutional guarantees and the country’s international human rights obligations. Corruption in the oil sector and the lack of transparency and accountability in the use of public funds to support the operations of the NNPC have resulted in persistent and unlawful hike in petrol prices.
“Increasing petrol prices at a time when millions of Nigerians continue to face worsening economic conditions is entirely inconsistent with constitutional and international obligations to ensure the minimum living conditions compatible with human dignity.
“The arbitrary increase has placed a disproportionate burden on the marginalised and most vulnerable sectors of society, particularly those disadvantaged by poverty. The increase is seriously jeopardizing their living conditions, as well as individuals’ physical, emotional, and individual development, and intensifying and worsening socioeconomic conditions in the country.
“The increase constitutes a serious human rights problem because of the intensity with which it undermines the enjoyment and exercise by Nigerians of their human rights and renders their civic participation illusory. The fundamental right to life includes not only the right of every Nigerian not to be deprived of his/her life arbitrarily, but also the right that he/she will not be prevented from having access to the conditions that guarantee a dignified existence.
“The growing poverty and inequality in the country has continued to adversely affect the right of Nigerians to participatory democracy, and impede their ability to participate in their own government. Nigerians have for far too long been denied justice and the opportunity to get to the bottom of why they continue to pay the price for corruption in the oil sector. The increase in petrol price has rendered already impoverished citizens incapable of satisfying their minimum needs for survival.
“The increase is not inevitable, as it stems from the persistent failure of successive governments to address the allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the oil sector and the impunity of suspected perpetrators. Persistent increase in petrol prices keep people in poverty which in turn perpetuates discriminatory attitudes and practices against them.”
“The government has a legal obligation to mobilize the maximum of the country’s available resources to ensure people’s socio-economic rights and to protect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged Nigerians. The government also has the legal obligations to probe and prosecute allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the NNPC, and to ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims of corruption.
“Investigating and prosecuting the allegations of corruption and mismanagement in the oil sector would be entirely consistent with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], and the country’s international anti-corruption obligations.
“Section 13 of the Nigerian Constitution imposes clear responsibility on the government to conform to, observe and apply the provisions of Chapter 2 of the constitution. Section 15(5) imposes the responsibility on the government to ‘abolish all corrupt practices’ including in the NNPC.
“Under Section 16(1) of the Constitution, the government has a responsibility to ‘secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice and equality of status and opportunity.’
“Section 16(2) further provides that, ‘the material resources of the nation are harnessed and distributed as best as possible to serve the common good.’ According to our information, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited recently increased the price of premium motor spirit (PMS), also known as petrol, across its retail outlets.
“The price of the product increased to N855 per litre, from about N600, and in some instances above N900 per litre. The apparently unlawful increase in petrol price followed a scarcity caused by the reported refusal by suppliers to import petroleum products for the NNPCL over a $6 billion debt.”
“The NNPC allegedly failed to remit USD$2.04 billion and N164 billion of oil revenues into the public treasury, as documented in the recently published 2020 annual report by the Auditor-General of the Federation.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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