Rufai Oseni, an Arise TV journalist, has voiced alarm about the fast spike in petrol prices, which came after a significant adjustment within 24 hours.
In a viral video, Oseni stated that he went to a filling station in the morning to buy fuel but was met with an unexpected price change.
“So this morning I just went to the filling station and I tried to buy fuel. Turns out from 1,225 it’s now about 1,335. The price went up in the space of one day.
The question I’d like to ask this government is with all the subsidy being pulled out, what have you done to cushion the effect on the people?
What have you done to stop them from facing head-on these challenges that the economy is bringing to them because of the war? Yes. Aviation fuel? Yep. Some reprieve on that. But petrol?”
He questioned what steps the government has taken to mitigate the impact of subsidy removal on citizens, saying that, while some alleviation has been noted in aviation fuel, petrol prices remain a significant burden on consumers.
The words sparked strong reactions online, with users divided on both the fuel price hike and Oseni’s sentiments.
Purple Teamer wrote: “This one has changed the style of his propaganda….lmaoooo he’s working had to build some political capital for his paymaster.”
Torchlightnews wrote: “A whole country held hostage by unpredictable fuel prices, and the only consistency is silence from those in power.”
Idowu Raphael wrote: “They will tell you, people are fighting in the middle east. We are in Africa and in Nigeria. We have more oil yet we pay more.”
King Miles wrote: “The answer to his question is: nothing. They removed the subsidy, collected the savings, gave themselves jumbo salaries, and the palliative they promised is still a PowerPoint somewhere in Abuja. You were meant to be too busy surviving to resist.”
Prisca Nal wrote: “Fuel jump from 1225 to 1335 in one day? 😭 Government subsidy removal dey slap us daily. The only real solution? Decentralized farms and food sovereignty.”