Breaking: Tricycle riders protest in Ilorin fuel price hits ₦1,250 per litre, PDP talks tough

Hundreds of tricycle riders, popularly known as Keke Napep, took to the streets on Thursday in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, protesting the recent change in the pump price of petrol.

The demonstration, which paralyzed traffic near Government Day Secondary School along Jebba Road, saw riders express their outrage over the surge in petrol prices, now at ₦1,250 per litre.

Sobi Fm, a popular radio station in the state, quoted Habibullahi Isiaka, one of the members of the tricycle riders saying the fuel price hike has made it increasingly difficult for tricycle operators to survive, struggling to meet basic needs.

The riders’ anger highlighted the need for government intervention to address the rising fuel costs.

The latest surge in the price of petrol has pushed up transport fares by over 50 percent in major cities across Nigeria.

The newest price hikes, implemented by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company’s (NNPCL) Retail Management, range from N855 to N897 per litre, depending on the location, from the previous N568-N617.

While reacting to the change in the price of the pump price, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party described the move by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited as an attack on Nigerians.

In a statement on Wednesday, PDP National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, said the ruling APC care less about the struggles of millions of Nigerians who can no longer afford their daily necessities.

Ologunagba stated, “The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejects the punishing increase in the pump price of fuel to over N1,000 per litre in various parts of the country describing it as a brutal assault on the sensibility and wellbeing of Nigerians by the insensitive and arrogant All Progressives Congress (APC) administration.

“The thoughtless increase in fuel price especially at this time, is a huge recipe for crisis as Nigerians cannot bear its worsening effect on the suffocating economic hardship which they currently face under the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led APC administration.

“The secretive and corrupt administration of the petroleum sector and persistent increase in fuel price under the Tinubu administration without due regard to the wellbeing of the people is akin to pushing Nigerians to the wall and daring them to do their worst.”

He added, “The APC administration has consistently shown itself to be anti-people, unconcerned and deaf to the agonies of millions of Nigerians who can no longer afford their daily meals, medications and basic support for families due to the catastrophic high cost of living occasioned by the insensitive and reckless policies of the Tinubu administration.

“Today, under the Tinubu-led APC administration over 150 million Nigerians have sunk below the poverty line, businesses are collapsing daily as the Naira now exchange for over N1,600 to a Dollar with over 34% inflation rate and over 40% unemployment rate which are expected to rise further with the latest draconian increase in the price of fuel.”